On 27 September 2019, in Paris, the Administrative Council of the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB) approved seven new projects and one additional loan request for a total of €695.2 million at its 314th meeting. The approved loans will support social projects in the areas of Education, Children, Gender equality and Migrants & Refugees.

In Germany, a €150 million loan to Investitionsbank des Landes Brandenburg will finance projects in social and municipal infrastructure as well as in social housing for low-income persons. The funds provided by the CEB will benefit vulnerable population groups, such as migrants and refugees, persons with disabilities, the elderly, and families with young children. In addition, a €63.2 million Programme loan to Stuttgarter Wohnungs- und Städtebaugesellschaft mbH will part-finance new constructions and the acquisition and renovation of existing buildings to increase the supply of affordable and social rental housing units and to finance the preservation of Stuttgart’s architectonic heritage. Final beneficiaries will be, among others, migrants and refugees.

In Spain a €100 million loan to Nuevo Microbank will support job creation and strengthen social cohesion. The funds will be used to provide financing to entrepreneurs, microbusinesses, immigrants and families in a vulnerable situation, who have restricted access to the banking system.

An additional request for €10 million loan in the Netherlands was approved to Qredits, a Dutch not-for-profit foundation supporting MSMEs, entrepreneurship and employment. The loan will finance the creation of new businesses, the preservation of existing jobs, and the (re)insertion of unemployed or inactive persons into the formal job market, including migrants.