Luxembourg (enr) – The European Investment Bank (EIB) is on course to meet, and potentially exceed, its target of allocating five percent of its financing in the European Union to security and defence projects this year, EIB President Nadia Calviño said.

That would amount to around 4.5 billion euros, according to the EU’s lending arm.

“Tt’s clear that we need more investment in the area of security and defence in Europe,” Calviño told members of the European Newsroom (enr) network in Luxembourg in June. “For the coming years, we are ready to do more to finance Europe’s security and defence capabilities,” the Spanish former economy minister added.

The EIB significantly increased its support for the sector last year in response to Russia’s war against Ukraine and the broader deterioration in the geopolitical situation. Financing for security and defence projects rose to more than 4 billion euros in 2025, four times the previous year’s level and almost five percent of all EIB Group financing in the EU.

“The shift of policy in security and defence has been a turning point for the EIB Group,” Calviño said.

Within only a few years, the bank had expanded its eligibility rules to include purely military projects. It now supports companies and investment funds active across the security and defence sector.

The EIB has gradually eased its financing rules since 2024. It can now provide funding for military equipment, infrastructure, services and technology. Weapons and ammunition remain excluded.

The Luxembourg-based EIB is the EU’s long-term lending institution. Its owners are the bloc’s member states, and its investments are generally intended to support the European Union’s political objectives.

The enr spoke with Calviño on the sidelines of the EIB’s annual Board of Governors meeting, as well as a meeting of EU ministers responsible for economic affairs, finance and the EU budget.

Gdańsk/Brussels (European Newsroom) – Ukrainian cities and regions risk being left out in deciding how billions in reconstruction funds are being used unless they are given a robust role in the planning, governance and implementation of reconstruction support, a joint statement by the European Alliance of Cities and Regions for the Reconstruction of Ukraine warned. 

Meeting on the sidelines of the Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC) 2026 in Gdańsk, Poland, the alliance called for a “localisation marker” in donor planning tools and ring-fenced funding with direct local access. 

Antje Grotheer, President of the State Parliament in Bremen, Germany, and chair of the European Committee of the Regions’ (CoR) Working Group on Ukraine, argued that local and regional authorities should have a greater voice in donor discussions and reconstruction planning. She stressed that Ukraine’s decentralisation reforms have been key to maintaining resilience during the war.   

“We feel there is an increasing need for stronger coordination of support that targets municipalities and regions,” Grotheer said.  

Oleksii Riabykin, Deputy Minister for Rebuilding and Minister for Development of Communities and Territories of Ukraine, said his country is already moving from emergency reconstruction to building resilient communities. Experience gained by Ukrainian cities, towns and villages during the war can help strengthen resilience across in Europe, he said. 

EU law implementation

The joint statement released Wednesday stressed that over 70 percent of EU law is implemented at local level, but most reconstruction funding for Ukraine is still channeled through national governments, leaving municipalities to compete over the leftovers. At the URC 2026 in Gdańsk, the CoR and its alliance partners demanded a structural fix.  

The alliance also encouraged Ukrainian regions to exploit existing EU programmes and platforms. It underscored the contribution of neighbouring EU countries to both Ukraine’s military efforts and its reconstruction, arguing that they should receive targeted support.  

EU member states that share a border with Ukraine are Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania. 

The alliance brings together EU and Ukrainian local and regional authorities and was co-founded by the CoR, an EU advisory body, in June 2022 following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.  Its goal is to coordinate an effective reconstruction of Ukraine that involves local and regional authorities rather than centralising the implementation of funds to the state. 

The URC was also established after Russia’s full-scale invasion, building on the foundations of the annual Ukraine Reform Conference established in 2017 by supporters of Ukraine, including the European Union.  

The URC 2026 takes place on June 25 and 26 and focuses on the sectors most impacted by Russia’s attacks, such as energy, critical infrastructure, and logistics. The lead-up to the conference was overshadowed by escalating dispute between Warsaw and Kyiv. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had named an army unit after Ukrainian underground fighters from World War II who are also blamed for massacres of tens of thousands of Poles and Jews in what is now western Ukraine.  In response, Poland’s right-wing conservative President Karol Nawrocki stripped Zelensky of a high Polish order of merit. 

This story was produced by the European Newsroom (enr) in cooperation with the European Committee of the Regions (CoR). The editorial responsibility lies with the enr.