The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), a global organisation established to accelerate the development of vaccines against emerging infectious diseases, and the European Investment Bank (EIB), the EU’s bank, today signed a landmark advisory agreement to collaborate on the development of innovative financing schemes to support vaccines development across the globe.

Under this partnership delivered through the InnovFin Advisory programme, the EIB will provide strategic financial advice and support to CEPI and its members (private and public companies and research institutes) on potential financing solutions from the EIB Group and/or external financing options, preparing to deploy large-scale vaccine development projects, making such solutions more readily available around the world. Alongside this signature was the announcement of a European Union-led global Pledging Conference to raise an initial €7.5 billion to end this pandemic, which will begin on 4 May 2020.

By joining forces, the EIB and CEPI will also explore ways to improve the overall financing ecosystem for investments in pandemic preparedness.  This may include in due course, the development of a new financing mechanism that would mobilise additional public and private capital. The EIB and CEPI’s cooperation will help to accelerate and facilitate access to funding for a number of vaccine development projects which will benefit from the EIB’s InnovFin Advisory support.

CEPI and the EIB, through InnovFin Advisory – a programme supported by the European Commission to advise companies to structure their R&I projects in order to improve their access to finance – will work together on identifying relevant vaccine development projects. The EIB will provide CEPI and its members with extensive knowledge sharing and support to navigate the financing schemes that exist within and beyond the EIB, in order to bring vaccine projects to life. The Bank offers numerous options for companies looking for funding such as corporate loans, project finance and venture debt.  In addition, this collaboration will help to identify potential funding gaps related to vaccine projects, and to explore the need for potential new financial instruments to address such gaps. 

EIB Vice-President Ambroise Fayolle said: “Vaccine development is vital in the fight against global infections, including the current coronavirus pandemic. We are pleased to join forces with CEPI to jointly identify vaccine initiatives and suitable funding solutions to get these projects off the ground. The Bank offers numerous options for companies looking for funding to develop the next generation of vaccines in the search for solutions to global disease outbreaks.”

CEPI is an innovative partnership between public, private, philanthropic, and civil organisations, launched at Davos in 2017, to develop vaccines to stop future epidemics. Working with the WHO, CEPI has so far initiated nine partnerships to advance COVID-19 vaccine candidates into clinical testing as quickly as possible.

Dr Richard Hatchett, Chief Executive Officer at CEPI commented: “The COVID-19 pandemic presents the world with an unprecedented challenge. Developing a vaccine that is available to all is going to be the world’s best exit strategy from this crisis, protecting lives and allowing societies to return to normal. I am very pleased to be partnering with the EIB which will help us in our work to develop a vaccine against this deadly disease.”

The EIB is building a pipeline of potential investments in vaccine, treatments and diagnostics for the fight against COVID-19, leveraging on global partnerships with organisations including the European Commission, the WHO, CEPI and others partners, also with the objective to achieve sufficient manufacturing capacity. All this effort is complemented by what the EIB is doing in health and pandemic preparedness both inside and outside EU.

Background information:

The EIB is one of the largest public supporters of innovation in the EU. By supporting cutting-edge innovation and climate action, the EIB helps to make Europe more competitive. Since 2000, the Bank has invested more than EUR 210 billion in innovative projects, R&D, and skills and training.  By December 2019 the Bank had provided a total of over €30 billion for healthcare-related projects around the world. The average yearly lending to the sector is €1.4 billion for some 20 projects. In 2019, the EIB helped to improve healthcare services for 12 million people. In addition, the Bank’s loans backed safer drinking water for 10 million people.

About EIB’s Innovation Finance Advisory (IFA): IFA aims to improve the bankability and investment readiness of innovative or complex projects in need of substantial, long-term investments. It also provides advice to improve the investment conditions for access to risk finance for Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) through horizontal activities.

Under Horizon 2020, the EU research and innovation programme for 2014-20, the European Commission and the European Investment Bank Group (EIB and EIF) launched the InnovFin programme, comprising a range of financial instruments and advisory services to help innovative firms access finance more easily. Innovative projects involving public and private partners need to be well prepared and structured before they can be presented to potential lenders and investors. Innovation Finance Advisory assists such priority projects in their preparation of a viable business plan, advising them on the appropriate strategy, governance and financial structure.

Innovation Finance Advisory also reinforces the EIB’s catalytic role in offering financial solutions where public funds mobilise private capital.

About CEPI

CEPI is an innovative partnership between public, private, philanthropic, and civil organisations, launched at Davos in 2017, to develop vaccines to stop future epidemics. CEPI has moved with great urgency and in coordination with WHO in response to the emergence of COVID-19. CEPI has initiated 9 partnerships to develop vaccines against the novel coronavirus. The programmes will leverage rapid response platforms already supported by CEPI as well as new partnerships. The aim is to advance COVID-19 vaccine candidates into clinical testing as quickly as possible.

Before the emergence of COVID-19 CEPI’s priority diseases included Ebola virus, Lassa virus, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus, Nipah virus, Rift Valley Fever and Chikungunya virus. CEPI also invested in platform technologies that can be used for rapid vaccine and immunoprophylactic development against unknown pathogens (Disease X).

Crisis situations call for crisis measures and emergency measures have been put in place in member states to contain the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. This has often resulted in restrictions on people’s rights, including for example the right of assembly and freedom of movement, and increased authority for the executive branches of government.

While recognising the need for special measures, Parliament said in a resolution adopted on 17 April that they must be in line with the rule of law, proportional and clearly related to the health crisis. MEPs also stressed that the measures must be time-limited and subject to regular scrutiny.

MEPs call for concrete actions to preserve the rule of law

During the plenary session on 17 April, MEPs expressed concerns about the emergency measures in Hungary and Poland. These relate most notably to the indefinite state of emergency and the new power of the government to rule by decree in Hungary, and the decision by Poland to hold presidential elections during the pandemic, despite worries about how fair these elections can be due to new participation mechanisms and campaigning issues.

MEPs called on the European Commission and the Council to make sure that all actions taken by member states are in line with EU values and treaties.

During a civil liberties committee meeting on 23 April, MEPs underlined the need to respect all fundamental rights, including data protection and privacy, across all member states, and called on the Commission to come up with guidelines.

The commitere’s Democracy, Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights Monitoring Group is closely monitoring the impact of emergency measures taken by member states.

Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders promised MEPs that the Commission will continue to closely monitor the situation regarding the rule of law in member states.

MEPs called for decisive action by the Council and the Commission to tackle the most severe violations in Poland and Hungary and criticised them for the lack of progress in ongoing Article 7(1) procedures, which could result in sanctions including the loss of voting rights in the Council, if a clear risk of a serious breach of EU values is established.

Find out which 10 things the EU is doing to fight the coronavirus.

Following the large number of petitions submitted to the Parliament in the past few weeks linked to COVID-19, the Petitions Committee decided to urgently organise an extraordinary meeting to highlight and respond to citizens’ concerns.

On Thursday, MEPs will examine four petitions related to the pandemic, more specifically on protecting refugees and local residents on the Aegean islands, on travel restrictions imposed by certain member states, on reforming and empowering the EU to better address global challenges and on expanding EU financial instruments.

When: Thursday, 30 April 2020, 10.00 – 12.00

Where: European Parliament, József Antall building, room 2Q2, Brussels

Members of the Committee on Petitions, Commission representatives and petitioners will be able to participate remotely and intervene in the debate via videoconference.

The meeting will be web-streamed here (EP Multimedia Centre).

The agenda and meeting documents are available here.

Information to the media

Journalists are advised not to attend in person unless absolutely necessary. If you do, you are requested to respect the standard recommended guidelines on social distancing and hygiene. Please refrain from coming to EP premises if you present any symptoms of a respiratory infection or if you have been in contact with an infected person in the last 14 days.

Today, 28 April 2020, the President of the European Council, HE Charles Michel, and President in office of the G5 Sahel, HE Mohamed Cheikh el Ghazouani, co-chaired a video conference with all the heads of state of the G5 Sahel, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the High Representative of the EU, Josep Borrell, in the presence of the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations and the President of the African Union Commission.

During this video conference, leaders adopted a joint declaration by the members of the European Council and the member states of the G5 Sahel. Leaders agreed to continue joint efforts to expand the Coalition for the Sahel to include other international partners.

In view of the seriousness of the situation in the G5 Sahel countries and their vulnerability to the spread of COVID-19, the co-presidents stressed the urgent need for constructive solidarity among the international community in order to provide an effective and sustainable response to the COVID-19 pandemic around the world, and in Africa and the Sahel in particular, with a focus on limiting the health and economic impact of the crisis.

In this regard, the co-presidents recalled the joint statement of the members of the European Council of 26 March 2020 and underlined the European Union’s commitment to international cooperation and multilateral solutions to tackle the pandemic and its consequences. The President of the European Council reiterated that the European Union will do its utmost to help countries and communities cope with the COVID-19 crisis, in particular to alleviate the negative socio-economic impact of the crisis and to strengthen the sustainability of global integrated value and supply chains in order to adapt them to demand.

The co-presidents welcomed the call made by several African and European leaders on 15 April 2020: ‘Only a victory in Africa can end the pandemic everywhere.’

The co-presidents welcomed the statement of the Extraordinary Summit of the G5 Sahel held on 27 April 2020, which was devoted to the COVID-19 pandemic within the G5 Sahel area. They noted the G5 Sahel’s call for the international community to take into account the G5 Sahel’s requests in tackling the COVID-19 crisis. They undertook to liaise accordingly with the members of the European Council and international partners with a view to examining African countries’ requests for the outright cancellation of African debt in response to the consequences of this unprecedented pandemic.

The co-presidents call on the international community to continue the efforts to support the G5 Sahel countries in their fight against the consequences of COVID-19.

The President in office of the G5 Sahel expressed his appreciation for the European Union’s response to the international dimension of this unprecedented global crisis. He honoured the thousands of people who have died of COVID-19 in the past weeks.

The co-presidents agreed that a follow-up meeting, in the form of a video conference, would be held within three months.

Visit the meeting page

The aim of the latest report, published by the European External Action Service (EEAS) on 24 April, is to provide a snapshot overview of the current trends and insights into disinformation activities related to the COVID-19 pandemic around the world. Mr Borrell will answer questions from members of the European Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee (AFET) on the report and its publication.

“I welcome that HR/VP Josep Borrell agreed to personally discuss with the members of the Foreign Affairs Committee and look forward to an interesting exchange of views”, says AFET Chair David McAllister (EPP, DE).

COVID-19-related disinformation, propaganda and other activities

The report notes a proliferation of misinformation, disinformation incidents, and other forms of manipulation and distortions related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite their potentially grave impact on public health, official and state-backed sources from various governments have continued to widely target conspiracy narratives and disinformation both at public audiences in the EU and the wider neighbourhood, according to the text.

Latest Parliament resolution

In a resolution adopted by the European Parliament on 17 April, MEPs also stressed that disinformation about COVID-19 is a major public health problem. The EU should therefore establish a European information source to ensure that all citizens have access to accurate and verified information. MEPs also called on social media companies to proactively take the necessary measures to stop disinformation and hate speech related to the coronavirus.

WHEN: Thursday 30 April, 16.00 – 17.30 CET.

WHERE: European Parliament ANTALL building, room 4Q1.

You can follow the meeting live here.

More information

Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, journalists are strongly advised to follow the meeting online.