Nadia Calviño's bid for European Investment Bank (EIB) leadership has paid off: the Spanish Finance Minister will take up the outgoing EIB chief Werner Hoyer's post in Luxembourg on 1 January 2024.
Calviño said she was "grateful and honoured" at her appointment. "This support reflects the respect, appreciation and leadership that we have gained through the hard intense work of the last year."
The result puts an end to a hard-fought race between Calviño and Denmark's Margrethe Vestager. Vestager briefly stepped down as EU digital and competition chief to campaign for EIB leadership. She has since withdrawn her candidature and announced her return to the Commission.
— Margrethe Vestager (@vestager) December 8, 2023
An EU-funded agency, the EIB is the one of the world's largest investment banks. Leadership comes with responsibility for billions of euros worth of funding for infrastructure across Europe.
Key priorities during Calviño's six-year term are the rebuilding of Ukraine and a renewed focus on climate financing – in 2019, the bank pledged €1 trillion in support of sustainable investing and an end to fossil fuel finance.
Calviño was Director General of the EU's budget department from 2014 to 2018. In 2019, she ran for International Monetary Fund leadership but lost to Kristalina Georgieva.
Current EIB chief Hoyer said he was "confident" that the EIB was in "capable hands".
