Nadia Calviño, EIB President: Can Europe compete?
The Interview
BBC
4.3 • 537 Ratings
🗓️ 23 March 2026
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
“We put the money where Europe's priorities are. Many people may think defence is about tanks. No, defence is also about energy security. It is about social cohesion and territorial cohesion. That's the European brand. So we need to act in all these areas in order to ensure peace, security, stability on our continent.” Peter Macjob speaks to Nadia Calviño, President of the European Investment Bank, about Europe’s shifting priorities, and the growing urgency around defence and security. With wars, energy shocks and tariffs reshaping the global economy, Europe is being forced to rethink its position in a changing world. The EIB is the EU’s lending arm, mobilising billions of euros to finance infrastructure, energy and technology projects across Europe and the developing world. Calviño, a former Spanish finance minister, took on the role in 2024 at a time of war in Ukraine, rising geopolitical tensions and growing strain on global trade. The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC, including episodes with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and free speech campaigner Maria Ressa. You can listen on the BBC World Service on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 0800 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out three times a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts. Presenter: Peter Macjob Producers: Osman Iqbal and Lucy Sheppard Editor: Justine Lang and Damon Rose Get in touch with us on email TheInterview@bbc.co.uk and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.
(Image: Nadia Calviño Credit: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:06.2 | Hello, I'm Peter MacJob, BBC presenter, and this is the interview from the BBC |
| 0:12.1 | World Service, the best conversations coming out of the BBC. People shipping our world from |
| 0:19.1 | all over the world. |
| 0:25.8 | If you're not a little bit afraid, then you're not paying attention. |
| 0:29.3 | We have never seen a people so united. |
| 0:32.1 | Do not make that boat crossing. Do not make that journey. |
| 0:36.3 | Being born in America, feeling American, having people treat me like I'm not. |
| 0:38.3 | We're more popular than populism. |
| 0:46.0 | For this interview, I met Nadia Carvino, the president of the European Investment Bank in Luxembourg. |
| 1:01.6 | A former Spanish finance minister will now oversees the EU's huge lending arm, mobilizing billions of euros to finance infrastructure, technology, and energy projects across Europe and the developing world. |
| 1:06.6 | You're going to hear about how Europe needs to find its place in a shifting global order, |
| 1:13.2 | and why Nadia Calvino believes the continent is an economic superpower and needs to act like one. |
| 1:18.1 | But with wars, energy concerns and tariffs rocking the global economy, |
| 1:25.0 | Europe's priorities are shifting with an increasing urgency around defence and security. |
| 1:27.4 | We're the European Investment Bank. |
| 1:30.5 | So we put the money where Europe's priorities are. |
| 1:36.2 | Right now, this means climate, technology, security and defense, |
| 1:38.5 | and social infrastructures and the rest. |
| 1:46.6 | So I think that all of it is very much underpinning competitiveness and security. You know, many people may think, oh, well, defense is about tanks. No, defense is also about energy security, isn't it? |
| 1:52.1 | It is about resilience to health, as we learned very, very clearly with the COVID pandemic. |
| 1:59.0 | It is about social cohesion and territorial cohesion. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.