EU bank eyes new centre for Mediterranean

(ROME) - The European Investment Bank could open a new branch to provide loans and technical help for southern Mediterranean states following uprisings in the region, the head of the EIB said on Thursday.

Philippe Maystadt also told a news conference in Rome that financing for the region could be more than doubled over the next three years to 5.7 billion euros ($7.9 billion) from the 2.8 billion euros currently available.

Also on Thursday the EIB, the financial arm of the European Union, said that it was extending more than 600 million euros in additional loans to Tunisia.

Maystadt said the new loans would be aimed at combating youth unemployment and emphasised that conditionality would remain "extremely rigorous."

"We are ready to contribute to stability in these countries to finance in particular investments that can create jobs," Maystadt told reporters.

A new EIB regional centre "would have the advantage of opening the capital of this subsidiary above all to beneficiary countries but also to other financial institutions that could provide complementary expertise," he said.