There is space to boost EIB lending as priorities multiply, Calvino says

By Marc Jones and Jan Strupczewski

LONDON, June 16 (Reuters) - There is space to increase the lending of the European Investment Bank as the bank seeks to help finance multiple European Union priorities from defence to energy and competitiveness, EIB President Nadia Calvino said on Tuesday.

In an interview at the Reuters NEXT Europe summit, Calvino said, however, that EU governments, which are the EIB's owners, for now focus more on the impact of the existing lending, encouraging more risk-taking and influence in these areas.

"There are a number of limits, but there is space to do it," Calvino said when asked if the bank's current lending ceiling of €100 billion could be increased. 

"Our shareholders ... last Friday ... were very much insisting, not so much on doing more volumes, but rather to have more impact, more risk-taking, and more influence and impact in those areas that matter - tech leadership, security, and defence, competitiveness," she said.

The EIB, the world's biggest multilateral lender, borrows on the markets with an AAA credit rating to lend on for various projects that are in line with the EU's priorities.

One of them is to increase the EU's ability to compete with the United States and China through new technology and while the EU is still lagging behind the two biggest world economies, Calvino said it was still a force to be reckoned with.

"Europe is like a rhinoceros, ... the horn may not be sharp enough because we have vulnerabilities in two areas: energy and defense, but you usually don't want to upset a rhino, would you?" Calvino said.

"It's a sturdy, resilient animal, and I think that this is the right way also to deal with the two elephants in the room," she said, referring to China and the United States.

The EIB focuses mainly on investments shifting the EU's economy to green energy to prevent climate change, but also on creating new European technology firms and financing defence and security through dual-use goods.

"The EIB Group is ready to do more, to further step up financing and risk-taking and impact, provided that there are the necessary public guarantees from the EU budget," Calvino said last Friday.

View the live broadcast of the Reuters Next World Stage here and read full coverage here.

(Reporting by Alessandra Galloni, Marc Jones in London and Jan Strupczewski in Brussels; editing by Philip Blenkinsop and Hugh Lawson)