BRUSSELS, 9 July 2026 – The next EU Multiannual Financial Framework is not simply a budget discussion, it’s a delivery discussion.

That was the conclusion among Europe’s development finance community who gathered on 1 July in Brussels for the first-ever Summer Salon to explore how the next MFF should respond to mounting geopolitical pressures and a rapidly changing global landscape.

Co‑hosted by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), European Investment Bank (EIB Global), Joint European Financiers for International Cooperation (JEFIC), and the Association of European Development Finance Institutions (EDFI), the salon spurred conversation around how in a more contested world, Europe can only deliver through deeper coordination across its development finance institutions and partners.

The co-hosts referenced how the Global Gateway strategy can and must better align Europe’s economic security, climate goals, and our global partnerships. EDFI Association Board Chair Luuk Zonneveld observed: “Development finance is no longer a standalone agenda but part of a single conversation about supply chains, strategic competitiveness, energy transition among the European interests”.

JEFIC co-Presidency representative Paweł Chorąży (photo follows), the Managing Director of BGK Poland noted: “EU development policy is increasingly expected to deliver on both poverty reduction and strategic objectives. As geopolitical interests move closer to the centre of the agenda, the challenge is no longer choosing between the two, but delivering on both. “The next MFF is not just about resources. It is about delivery. Europe already has a diverse and complementary ecosystem of development actors. The task now is not to redesign it, but to make it work better together. Success will depend on putting the right institution, with the right instrument, in the right context.”

William Roos, EBRD Managing Director Corporate Strategy and Strategic International Affairs, emphasised the need to work together as Team Europe, bringing our respective value added and capacity to leverage partnership , in order to deliver complex projects aligned with EU objectives more effectively. Roos (photo follows) also stressed the importance of shifting discussions in the second half of the year to go beyond technicalities and towards more strategic policy priorities, including how the EU projects itself globally, both in the context of the MFF negotiations and the upcoming multilateral discussions on the future of development cooperation and development finance.

EIB Global Managing Director Andrew McDowell (photo follows) noted that Europe and its institutions are being forced to adapt rapidly to a changing geopolitical landscape. While institutions may approach these challenges from different angles, he highlighted growing alignment across Team Europe around a common objective: contributing to a financial architecture that is more predictable and better equipped to deliver investment at scale.

As discussions on the next EU budget enter a crucial negotiation phase, the event brought together key stakeholders to exchange views on the strategic and geopolitical challenges shaping Europe’s development finance architecture. That means making prioritizing the need to make the Global Gateway more operational, sharpen the strategy’s focus where European interests and development outcomes reinforce each other, and build a more joined‑up European offer across European DFIs, the European Commission, EIB, EBRD, JEFIC along with the broader Team Europe family.

EDFI CEO David Kuijper concluded: “The coming MFF presents a test of Europe’s ability to deploy capital at scale in high‑risk environments while staying credible partners for local economies. Investment in emerging and frontier markets now proves ‘central’ to Europe’s strategic posture, and not an instrument on the margins. In parallel, the real question is not how much public money Europe can spend, but how much investment that money can unlock.”

Some main reflections from the salon:

• Development finance is no longer a standalone agenda: now sits at the intersection of supply chains, competitiveness, economic security and the energy transition.
• Europe already has a strong development finance ecosystem: challenge is not to redesign it, but to make it work better together.
• The coming MFF – a test for Europe on multiple fronts: (i) the ability to remain engaged; (ii) the ability to deploy capital at scale in high-risk environments; (iii) all while remaining a credible long-term partner for local economies.
• Investment in emerging and frontier markets: not peripheral to Europe’s interests, it is increasingly central to them.
• The real question on financing: Not how much public money Europe can spend, but how much investment that money can unlock.
• Global Gateway success: Will depend on a simpler, predictable, and more operational financial architecture that enables institutions to mobilise capital where it is most needed.