On 1 July 2026, the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group tabled four amendments to the European Parliament's annual report on the financial activities of the European Investment Bank (EIB) Group. The amendments, authored by MEPs Bogdan Rzońca, Ruggero Razza and Dick Erixon, target the EIB's risk management in large-scale industrial projects, administrative burdens on smaller beneficiaries, and residual barriers to defence sector lending. The most significant new provision expresses concern over the EIB's EUR 942.6 million in signed commitments to Northvolt AB, of which EUR 288 million was disbursed before its bankruptcy filing in March 2025, pointing to "weaknesses" in the EIB's due diligence and risk assessment. The amendment calls for a review of the EIB's exposure to similar high-risk projects and strengthened safeguards to protect EU taxpayers' money.
Amendment 6, a technical re-tabling of the original text on climate transition, reaffirms support for a predictable, affordable transition without undue burden on industry and households. Amendment 8 retains the original call for simplified application and approval procedures but adds emphasis on ensuring that prerequisites and reporting requirements are "proportionate to the allocation value and/or the size of the beneficiary," reinforcing the ECR's focus on reducing administrative burdens for SMEs, start-ups, and local authorities without compromising accountability. Amendment 9 keeps the original text's call for the EIB Board of Governors to continue adapting practices to remove residual barriers to defence lending, adding a stronger formulation: "calls on the EIB's Board of Governors to continue to adapt the EIB's practices with regard to defence and security financing." This signals the ECR's view that the March 2025 eligibility expansion was insufficient and that further action is needed to fully mobilise private capital for European security.
The amendments are proposed changes to the report by rapporteur Joachim Streit (Renew Europe) and will be examined and voted on in committee before the plenary vote. No amendments from other political groups are included in this set, so no comparison of positions is possible at this stage. The ECR's position is consistent: critical of the EIB's risk management in large-scale industrial projects, supportive of streamlining procedures for SMEs and local authorities, and insistent on further liberalising defence lending. The amendments do not challenge the EIB's climate transition objectives but seek to ensure that taxpayer-funded investments are managed prudently and that smaller actors are not overburdened.
The amendments would impact several stakeholders. EU taxpayers would benefit from stronger safeguards against high-risk investments, as the Northvolt case exposed potential losses of public funds. SMEs and local authorities would face reduced administrative burdens if the proportionality requirement is adopted, lowering barriers to accessing EIB financing. The EIB itself would face tighter oversight and potential reputational damage from the criticism of its due diligence, but also clearer political guidance on defence lending. Defence and security companies would gain from accelerated liberalisation of EIB lending, unlocking private capital for European security projects. The institutional follow-up will see the amendments debated in the relevant committee, with a plenary vote expected later in 2026, after which the report will become Parliament's position for dialogue with the EIB.