The European Parliament debated the EIB Group's 2025 annual report on 6 July 2026, with MEPs sharply divided over the bank's expanding role in defence financing, its impact on cohesion and SMEs, and its climate investment strategy. Rapporteur Joachim Streit (Renew) presented a compromise text prioritising competitiveness, innovation, and SME access to finance, including strategic sectors such as defence. EIB Vice-President Robert de Groot highlighted a record €100bn in new financing, €33bn for energy security, and the expansion of the European Tech Champions Initiative. Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis stressed closer EU-EIB coordination on competitiveness, economic security, and defence, and welcomed the EIB's role in affordable housing.
EPP's Karlo Ressler backed faster procedures and strategic investment, aligning with the Commission's push for a more agile EIB. However, S&D's Carla Tavares warned against expanding the EIB's mandate to defence at the expense of cohesion, SMEs, and climate objectives, reflecting a centre-left concern that defence spending could crowd out traditional priorities. Patriots' Angéline Furet accused the EIB of betraying its mission by financing projects outside the EU and imposing green criteria that hurt SMEs, a nationalist critique that questions the bank's global engagement and climate conditionality. Greens' Damian Boeselager called for more venture capital to prevent European startups from moving to the US, pushing for a stronger innovation focus. ECR's Rada Laykova criticised the removal of the lending ceiling and the bank's shift into higher-risk climate investments, advocating for fiscal prudence. The Left's João Oliveira argued that competitiveness logic undermines cohesion and prioritises militarisation over social needs, a fundamental challenge to the bank's strategic direction.
Marta Wcisło and Maria Grapini highlighted regional disparities; Ondřej Knotek called for nuclear energy support; and Marc Botenga and Mireia Borrás Pabón questioned EIB financing in Israel and Morocco. The vote on the report is scheduled for the following day.
The debate exposed a cleavage between those who want the EIB to act as a strategic EU instrument for defence and competitiveness (EPP, Renew, Commission) and those who fear this will dilute its original mission of cohesion, SME support, and climate action (S&D, Greens, The Left). Patriots and ECR added nationalist and fiscal-conservative critiques. The outcome will shape the EIB's future mandate, with potential impacts on defence industry access to finance, SME lending conditions, and the pace of green investments. A shift toward defence could boost European security but risk underfunding for smaller firms and poorer regions, while maintaining the status quo may leave strategic gaps in defence innovation.