For several years now the CEB has sought to develop
cooperation with other international institutions. In effect, by cooperating
with other institutions the Bank is able to increase its means of action,
thereby enhancing its added value.
In compliance with the partial agreement¹ that presided over its creation in 1956, the CEB deploys its action within the framework of the Council of Europe and supports the Council's priorities. It nevertheless has its own full legal personality and is financially independent.
Following the Third Council of Europe Summit (Warsaw, May 2005), the Heads of State and Government expressed their attachment to the CEB's action on behalf of populations in distress and of social cohesion. They also invited the Bank to widen its role to facilitate the consolidation of democracy, promotion of the rule of law and respect for human rights.
Before submitting any loan request to the Administrative Council, the Bank receives an admissibility opinion from the Secretary General concerning the project's compliance with the political and social objectives of the Council of Europe.
1 - To date, 39 of the 47 members of the Council of Europe have joined the CEB.
European Union
The European Union (EU) constitutes a major partner for the Bank. Since EU enlargement from 15 to 27 member states, the CEB's area of operations is also that of Community activities, either because the CEB's members are also members of the EU or linked to it by specific treaties, or because they are the object of European policies in support of South Eastern European and "Neighbourhood" countries. The CEB therefore seeks to further strengthen its cooperation with the European Commission and with the European Investment Bank (EIB).
To this effect, the Bank has become a partner to three Memoranda of Understanding aimed at associating international financial institutions (IFIs) with European policies for urban regeneration, support for the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and support for Eastern Europe, the Southern Caucasus, Russia and Central Asia (Neighbourhood Countries).
On the strength of this cooperation framework, the CEB has been developing joint operations with the European Union for several years. Since 2000, the CEB has woven a series of particularly innovative partnerships with the European Commission and Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW). These are aimed at making European funds available for projects financed or cofinanced by KfW and the CEB in the transition countries. Within this context, by mid 2007, the CEB had approved loans totalling 581 million euros.
In additional to this, in 2006, together with several IFIs, the Bank signed a Declaration of European Principles for the Environment. This declaration associates the signatories in a joint effort to implement the principles of sustainable environmental management that feature in the European Union Treaty and secondary legislation.
Since 2001, the Bank has been a partner to the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe, which brought together the countries of the region and those of the European Union as well as certain other countries and several international organisations. The Pact was replaced, on 27 February 2008, by the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC). On 15 November 2007, CEB declared its readiness to cooperate with the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC), along with the other international financial institutions. CEB is now evaluating the modalities of this cooperation.
More recently, the Governor of the CEB and Mr Philippe Maystadt, President of the EIB, signed on 2 June 2008 a "Joint Statement on Cooperation" between the two institutions in Luxembourg. This statement is a consecration of the long-standing cooperation that exists between the CEB and the EIB and is also aimed at defining the modalities for future cooperation between the Banks.
International Financial Institutions
Not only is the Bank associated with the IFIs through several cooperation instruments signed under the aegis of the European Union, but it has also signed three bilateral cooperation agreements with, respectively, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the World Bank (including the IDA) and the Nordic Investment Bank (NIB). Furthermore, the CEB participates as an observer in the meetings of the Development Committee of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
This framework for cooperation facilitates the implementation of joint operations with other IFIs. As an illustration of this, since the signing of the above mentioned agreement, the amounts approved by the CEB for projects financed in partnership with the World Bank had reached almost 306 million euros by mid 2007. The CEB has also organised two international conferences jointly with the World Bank, one on social housing in the Balkans (2003) and the other on natural disasters (2006).
UN Agencies
Moreover, the Bank has concluded bilateral memoranda of agreement with three UN agencies active in the CEB's member states, namely the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), UNICEF and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
These agreements ratify the long-standing cooperation that exists between the CEB and the UNHCR, UNICEF, as well as UNDP, whereby the Bank contributes, through donations, to financing projects initiated by these specialised agencies. By mid-2007, the CEB had thus approved donations for a total amount of 6.3 million euros in favour of projects implemented by the UNHCR, UNICEF and UNDP in the fields of education, health as well as help to refugees and migrants.
Furthermore, the Bank maintains close collaboration with other UN agencies active in its fields of action including, in particular, the World Health Organisation (WHO), International Organization for Migration (IOM), United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN Habitat) and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
List of cooperation instruments
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