EU Finance ministers have decided to increase the share capital of the European Investment Bank (EIB) by 67 billion EUR (84.7 billion USD) to enable the bank to intensify lending as a measure to fight recession, according to EIB President Philippe Maystadt, who also made reference to the fiscal incentive package announced by the European Commission last week.
Following this operation, the EIB will have a total capital of 232 billion EUR. The bank is controlled by the Governments of the 27 Members of the European Union. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso on 14 November said that EU Government should increase the EIB capital as part of the plan to fight recession.
EU Commissioner for Industry Gunter Verheugen commented that the EIB could contribute to a 40 billion EUR (50.7 billion USD) package of incentives intended to help develop new environmentally friendly technology in the car industry.