New EIB archives (151 documents) are now available online at the Historical Archives of EU (HAEU) located at the European University Institute (EUI) in Florence.
The archives relate to the Bank’s early years from 1956 to 1967 and shed light on EIB’s actions within the framework of regional policy and the EIB’s expanding reach over time, particularly towards Greece and the associated African and Malagasy States (AAMA).
The rare collection contains papers written by high-level actors in the Governing bodies and Directorates of the Bank such as the Presidency and Vice-Presidency, the Board of Governors, the Management Committee, the Board of Directors and staff members of the Research and Legal Departments and the legacies of the two Bank’s first two Presidents of President Pietro Campilli (1958-1959) and Paride Formentini (1959-1970).
The collection includes documents about the actual setting up of the European Investment Bank and about the first years of the Bank’s efforts in gaining a public recognition with European and international audiences.
The new documents will contribute to increasing knowledge of EIB’s support to the European integration process and facilitate research on EIB’s interactions with other EU institutions. Previous series of archives were released in March and July 2021.
In addition to the archival holdings of the European Union Institutions, the HAEU collects private papers of key European politicians, high-ranking EU officials and individuals involved in the process of European integration as well as the archives of pro-European movements and other organisations with a European scope. It counts more than 500,000 items (documents, audio-visual material).
The historical archives of the EIB are deposited at the Historical Archives of the EU under a convention signed in July 2005 with then EIB vice-president Gerlando Genuardi.
The EIB Group (the EIB and the EIF), and the EUI cooperate in the fields of academic research, teaching and training, notably through the EIB Climate Chair launched in 2020 within the EUI’s School of Transnational Governance.
