The EU as a borrower – investor relations

The European Commission is empowered by the EU Treaties to borrow from the international capital markets on behalf of the European Union. It is a well-established name in debt securities markets, with a strong track record of successful bond issuances over the past 40 years. All EU-Bond issuances executed by the European Commission are denominated exclusively in euro.

The European Commission uses the proceeds of EU-Bond issuances to fund EU policy programmes. A landmark policy programme currently funded by EU-Bonds is the NextGenerationEU recovery instrument, under which the EU is expected to raise up to €712 billion (out of a maximum programme envelope of €806.9 billion) by 2026. The EU also issues EU-Bonds to finance loans for Ukraine. Under the Ukraine Facility, the EU will raise up to €33 billion in EU-Bonds between 2024 and 2027 to finance these loans.

EU borrowing is executed using multiple instruments, including EU-Bonds, EU-Bills, and NextGenerationEU Green Bonds. The Commission also makes use of different funding techniques, such as syndications and auctions. The Commission communicates its planned funding volumes to the market through bi-annual funding plans covering the next six months of operations.

For regular updates on the EU’s borrowing and lending activities you can subscribe to our quarterly investor newsletter. Our investor presentation also provides a consolidated overview of our funding operations.