EU allocates €20 billion to eastern regions, von der Leyen: “Challenge becomes opportunity”

Brussels – Transforming the war across the border from a tragic reality into a potential opportunity for the territories. A difficult cosmetic operation. Yet this is the point of view that Ursula von der Leyen sought to convey with the launch of EastInvest, a €20 billion financing mechanism specifically designed for regions bordering Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine, the countries of the Eastern flank already at the centre of the twelve stars action since 2022, when Russian military operations began.

 EastInvest, explained the President of the European Commission at the high-level conference on the eastern border regions, “combines some of the main sources of public and private funding in Europe, including the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).” In addition to public investment, private sector banks and national credit institutions are also involved in an initial two-year programme of targeted investment and financing. 

“A safer environment can help us attract new investment,” von der Leyen emphasised. This is where the initiative’s competitive edge lies. Faced with businesses fleeing, tourists going elsewhere, and families moving away for fear of the war spreading, the EU has decided to invest. Von der Leyen discusses sustainability, agriculture, and initiatives to “create new jobs and new economic opportunities.” 

The paradox of war is that conflict becomes an opportunity and a reason for new political and economic investment in regions that would otherwise be relegated to the margins (not only geographical) of the Union. But there is not only the new €20 billion European mechanism designed exclusively for the territorial realities of Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria. There is also a wholly national impetus that pleases von der Leyen: “Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Romania are setting an excellent example because they have increased investment in defence and military mobility.” Why so much emphasis? Because “all these measures contribute to improving security. But they also increase our competitiveness, create jobs, and improve infrastructure.”