The Committee of the Regions (CoR) held a debate with the President of the European Investment Bank (EIB), Werner Hoyer in order to boost the partnership between these two institutions. Both institutions stressed that the cooperation with local and regional authorities should start at an early stage before the programming period 2014-2020 in order to grant the needed continuity in the programmes implementation and to raise the quality of funded projects.

The debate held at the Committee of the Regions (CoR) with the President of the European Investment Bank (EIB), Werner Hoyer, was an opportunity to prepare a new phase of enforced cooperation between the two institutions, starting from the current involvement of the EIB in co-financing structural funds projects throughout the EU. President Hoyer underlined at the debate that investment is needed, in a very abstract sense, in European unity, cohesion, institution and policies – in brief, in creating more Europe. But investment is also needed in people, in knowledge and in physical assets, to foster growth in European regions. In 2011, the European Investment Bank financed more than 400 projects in 70 countries.

During the plenary session, Members of the CoR elected Ramon Luis Valcárcel as a new President of the EU’s Committee of the Regions. Mr Valcarcel highlighted during the debate with the EIB's President that tackling the crisis and promoting growth are a “top priority”. He also reiterated that the CoR and the EIB should work together towards achieving a stronger territorial, economic and social cohesion in Europe.

To this aim, the cooperation with local and regional authorities should start at an early stage before the programming period 2014-2020. The EIB can also provide expert support in developing new projects and funding instruments at local and regional level, while taking advantage of the full commitment of local public and financial actors for a successful project implementation.