Dual Use Space Assets Through Dual Nature Funding Will the European Investment Bank Propel EU Space Activity?

Unique among European Union (EU) entities and multilateral banks for having a dual nature as an EU body and a bank, the European Investment Bank's (EIB) activity aligns with the EU's evolving policy priorities because of the bank's institutional nature. As a bank, the EIB is one of the world's largest multilateral development banks and has, therefore, the ability to mobilise significant funding and play a 'prograding' role in EU space initiatives linked with European strategic autonomy. However, despite demonstrating institutional activism in support of dual-use security and defence systems and their inherent space dimension, the EIB has long been criticised that its lending is not in reality commensurate to its capabilities and public pledges due to the bank's risk aversion. For this reason, the paper examines whether the prioritisation of the EU's strategic autonomy resulted in a paradigm shift of the EIB's lending patterns in terms of propelling European space activity.