The most recent archival transfer from the European Investment Bank (EIB) in Luxembourg to the Historical Archives of the European Union (HAEU) in Florence took place on 31 January 2025. The files have been inventoried and are now available for consultation in the HAEU’s online database.
This latest batch of accruals comprises 348 files from 119 loan agreements signed with the EIB between 1975 and 1977. The files include project appraisals, loan agreements, project reports, and photographs, offering a unique window into major EIB-funded projects from the 1970s. This particular series from the EIB, which dates from 1958, now includes files on nearly 500 projects.
The transfer spans a range of sectors, including transport, industry, energy, water/sewerage, and telecommunications, reflecting the variety of EIB-funded investments at the time. Among the 119 projects documented, the majority were located in European Community countries, with 49 in Italy, 34 in the United Kingdom, 20 in Germany, 12 in France, 8 in Denmark, 6 in Greece, and 2 in Portugal. Two extra-European projects were located in Kenya and New Caledonia.
Of particular interest are several projects related to nuclear power plants, with important projects financed in the UK, France, Italy, and Germany. Among these is a 1975 loan agreement signed between the EIB and Italy’s national electric company ENEL for the construction of the Caorso Nuclear Power Plant, near Piacenza, Italy. The plant was active from 1981 to 1990, when it was closed following a 1987 referendum.
The files also include photographs, with a total of 45 images documenting four of the projects. For example, a project for a pyrite ash treatment plant in Portugal is illustrated with what is called “rephotography” or repeat photography. Here, progress on the plant’s construction site was monitored by repeatedly photographing the same area from the same angle over a period of time. The contract for the project, part of a collaboration with Companhia União Fabril (CUF) in Barreiro, was signed in 1976 and is an example of industrial development in the region.
Not all projects proceeded as planned. The files detail the halting of works for an aniline production project in Priolo, Sicily, due to environmental concerns.
The newly available files provide an invaluable resource for researchers and historians studying the European investment landscape of the 1970s and the important role the EIB played in supporting key infrastructure and industrial projects across Europe and beyond.
About the EIB deposits at the HAEU
The EIB is the financial institution of the European Union created by the Treaties of Rome (1957) to contribute to regional development and economic cohesion. Its historical archives were deposited at the HAEU under the terms of a convention signed on 1 July 2005. Since 2015, the EIB has transferred its archives to the HAEU under the 2015 Framework Partnership Agreement between the HAUE and the EU institutions.
Consult the inventory of the holdings of the European Investment Bank here.
Photo: Archival photo of the construction site of a metallurgical plant in Barriero, Portugal. © DSB Depart. de projectos e estudios de engenharia - Gabinete Fotografico, Quimigal Barreiro, HAEU, BEI-3157