In Brussels, not only numbers, funds and financial architectures were discussed. We discussed, more deeply, which Europe to build in the coming years, with which tools, with which priorities and above all with which actors called to transform the great community ambitions into real investments, capable of reaching businesses, territories, infrastructures, social housing, innovation and industrial competitiveness.
This was the heart of the first public event of the European Long-Term Investors Associationthe association that brings together the main national promotional banks and European public financial institutions, held in Brussels under the Italian presidency of Cassa Depositi e Prestitiled by the CEO Dario Scannapieco.
The meeting, entitled “The future Multiannual Financial Framework: Building a stronger Europe”brought European institutions, public development banks, financial operators and policy makers to the same table to address one of the decisive games of the next community season: the new Multiannual Financial Framework of the European Unioni.e. the seven-year budget that will define Europe’s priorities, resources and intervention capacity for the period 2028-2034.
Scannapieco: «We need an ambitious, predictable and continuous framework»
In the panel dedicated to the role of national banks and promotional institutes, Scannapieco insisted on the need to strengthen the role of these entities in the implementation of European financial instruments, in particular in a phase in which the Union is called upon to support competitiveness, strategic autonomy, green and digital transition, mobilization of private capital and reduction of territorial gaps.
«National banks and promotional institutions are ready to operate as long-term partners of the European Commission, as already demonstrated in the context of InvestEU», declared Scannapieco, underlining however that, to truly operate on scale, a framework is needed that is «not only ambitious», but also capable of guaranteeing «predictability and operational continuity of InvestEU», while preserving an architecture open to institutions with a public mission that have overcome the so-called pillar assessment of the European Commission.
The political and industrial point is right here: it is not enough to design large European programs if their implementation does not take into account national and territorial specificities. According to Scannapieco, in fact, the effectiveness of European instruments depends on the ability to adapt common priorities to local economies, transforming the Union’s guidelines into concrete, bankable, measurable and high-impact projects.
National banks and promotional institutes represent, in this vision, a bridge between Brussels and the territories. They are public entities, but with financial expertise, investment capacity and direct knowledge of the needs of citizens, businesses and administrations. A function that becomes even more central in a European context marked by increasingly complex geopolitical, industrial and fiscal challenges.
During the event, the theme of cooperation between European institutions and National Promotional Banks and Institutions emerged forcefully, called upon to play a more incisive role in the implementation of the Union’s investment priorities. The debate concerned the need to improve coordination between European and national instruments, simplify implementation mechanisms, support small and medium-sized enterprises, accompany innovation, infrastructure, energy and digital transition, and make the use of European funds more coherent with the objectives of competitiveness and cohesion.
The public works were opened by a welcome message delivered on behalf of the Executive Vice President of the European Commission Stéphane Séjournéfrom Estelle GögerDeputy Head of Cabinet of the European Commission. The keynote address has been entrusted to Kerstin JornaDirector General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs of the European Commission, who recalled the importance of strengthening the single market and the European industrial base to support long-term competitiveness.
The public recognition of Stefan Wintels
During the event, significant public recognition also arrived for Scannapieco’s role at the helm of ELTI. Stefan WintelsCEO of KfWthe German public development bank, openly thanked Scannapieco for the way he is leading the association, with clear words: «Thank you for your leadership».
A step that is not only formal, because it came from one of the main European public financial institutions and at a time when coordination between national promotional banks takes on a growing strategic value. Wintels’ thanks confirms the weight of the Italian presidency of ELTI and the centrality of CDP in the European dialogue on the future of public and private investments.
CDP, the Commission’s second executive partner after the EIB
The role of CDP, moreover, is now structural in the implementation of European programs. In recent years the group has established itself as one of the main Italian implementers of community instruments, operating in the different management methods of the European Commission – direct, indirect and shared – and working on the combination of own resources and non-refundable European funds.
An example comes from the program Connecting Europe Facility in the transport sector, where CDP, as an implementing partner of the European Commission, contributed to the award of more 240 million euros of contributions in favor of 14 promoterssupporting the development of alternative fuel infrastructure with the installation of almost 11,000 electric charging points in 23 countries of the European Union.
Even more relevant is the position achieved within InvestEUwhere CDP is the second largest implementing partner of the European Commission after the EIB Group, with approx 1.3 billion euros of guarantees under management. Of these, approximately 1 billion it is already approved and beyond 700 million already contracted, with financing and investment operations for approximately 1.2 billion euros in strategic sectors such as innovation, business digitalisation, infrastructure and social housing.
Among the initiatives mentioned are the new campus of the State University of Milan in the district MINDinvestments in National Housing Fund for accessible housing, interventions in the water cycle, railway interconnections and support for start-ups through CDP Venture Capital.
Investments, territories and competitiveness
Alongside its financial activity, CDP also plays the role of advisory partner of the European Commission, managing resources for technical assistance to public administration and supporting the definition of bankable projects. To date, approximately 170 assignments in favor of beyond 70 public bodiescontributing to the activation of investments for approximately 28 billion euros.
It is precisely this ability to accompany promoters throughout all phases of project development – from application to structuring, from the mix of contributions, loans, guarantees and equity to the strengthening of eligibility and bankability – that makes the national promotional banks model one of the most concrete tools for transforming the next European budget into real growth.
In the debate on the new Multiannual Financial Framework, the European Commission’s proposal looks to a Europe that is more competitive, more autonomous and more capable of mobilizing private investments. But for this vision to not remain just an institutional plan, actors capable of bringing it to the ground will be needed. The message coming out of Brussels is clear: European public development banks are ready to do so, provided that the Union builds a stable, continuous, ambitious and open framework.
And the Italian presidency of ELTI, led by Scannapieco, fits exactly in this passage: not as a simple representative role, but as a political-financial hub in a phase in which Europe must decide whether to limit itself to administering its resources or using them to truly build its economic sovereignty.
