1. Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB)
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
ESF COMMITTEE
23 September 2005
Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB)
Krzysztof J. NERS
Vice-Governor

2. A multilateral development bank with a social vocation
A European public financial institution set up in 1956 by 8 member countries of the Council of Europe
38 member States today
Among them 16 Central
and Eastern European
countries since 1994

3. Key figures Outstanding loan portfolio: € 11.1 billion
Total assets: € 16.4 billion
Own funds: € 4.5 billion
Loans disbursed in 2004: € 1.5 billion
AAA Rating (Moody’s, S&P, Fitch)
(figures at June 2005)

4. 3 action lines  Social integration:
Aid to refugees, migrants and displaced populations
Social housing
Job creation and preservation in SMEs and vocational training
Urban and rural modernisation

5. 3 action lines  Human capital:  Environment: Education Health
Natural or ecological disasters: reconstruction and preventive action
Protection of the environment
Preservation of historic and cultural heritage

6. Operating principles
The Bank finances projects in its member countries
By way of medium/long-term loans
Up to 50% * of total project cost
Two key elements of added value of CEB’s intervention:
low cost of “AAA” rating funding benefit passed on to clients (i.e. rates way below commercial banks/capital markets levels)
technical assistance and project monitoring
* Up to 90% of total project cost in specific regions/countries

7. Borrowers CEB may intervene either: directly:  Member states
or indirectly:
 Local or regional authorities
 Financial institutions

8. Recent examples of projects with « high social content »
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia and Montenegro: Provision of housing to support the refugee return process
Romania: Child protection programme
Spain: Social housing for migrants
Hungary: Social integration of Roma (housing, education, employment)
Baltic states: Micro-credit schemes and SME support for women entrepreneurship.

9. Example in Poland
Alleviation of social effects of the restructuring of the hard-coal mining and the steel and heavy chemical industries in Silesia and Maloposkie
investments in SMEs to increase economic activities and to promote new employment opportunities
Training and small business incubators (capacity building, improvement of the regional skill base)
municipal infrastructure (physical local infrastructure and communication)
This program fits within the EU, National and regional strategies

10. Value added of a broader cooperation with the EU and other IFIs
Exchange of experiences throughout Europe (pilot projects, innovative approaches with high social content)
Support to social policies, capacity building and good governance in order ensure sustainable development
Co-financing with the EU structural funds, pre- accession EU funds and other IFIs financing

11. Increased institutional and financial cooperation with the EU
Memorandum of Understanding (2000)
Examples of concrete cooperation :
ESF (Spain - training programme for the Roma population )
European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) (Spain, Portugal, Italy)
ISPA (Hungary, Poland)
SMEs and Municipal Facilities in new member states and candidate countries (with PHARE and KfW)
CARDS (Western Balkans) and European Agency for Reconstruction (Serbia and Montenegro)
EIB (Cyprus, Bulgaria, Romania, Spain, Turkey)

12. Increased involvement in the policy debate on social and economic development
Support to the Social Cohesion Initiative for SEE (Stability Pact for South East Europe ) since 2000
Ministerial Conference on Social Housing in SEE (World Bank/CEB) 2003
Roma Education Fund (2005)
Ministerial conference on Health and economic development in SEE (Skopje – November 2005) (WHO/COE/CEB)