PACE, meeting today in plenary session in Strasbourg, congratulated the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB) for “its flexible and tailored support to its member states” in the context of the pandemic and natural disasters, and for the rapid assistance to Ukrainian refugees.
The Parliamentary Assembly underlined that the CEB had successfully kept expanding its operations, capital base and membership, namely with Andorra and Ukraine which joined the Bank in 2020 and 2023 respectively. It strongly encouraged five outsider States – Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Monaco and the United Kingdom – to become members as soon as possible.
Adopting a resolution based on the report by Eka Sepashvili (Georgia, EC/AD), PACE called on the CEB to “gradually enhance support for the Ukrainian Government in the recovery, reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts in social sectors”, paying particular attention to housing and public health. In addition, it encouraged the CEB to “focus on the social dimensions of climate change and environmental degradation”, as highlighted in the Reykjavik Declaration.
According to the parliamentarians, the CEB should also step up its focus on target group countries through the provision of more grants and technical assistance to support the preparation and implementation of social projects with the highest potential impact.
Finally, PACE proposed that the CEB strengthen its co-operation with partner institutions such as the EU and multilateral development banks, for maximising the impact of projects.
“In these difficult times when the founding values of the Council of Europe are increasingly threatened, the Bank remains entirely committed – as its financial arm – to uphold them. We contribute to this critical mission by financing impactful social projects which help strengthen the social fabric of our member countries. This is meant as a concrete and operational pledge to action,” said Carlo Monticelli, Governor of the CEB, addressing the Assembly on this occasion.
Further details are available here.
