The European Investment Bank (EIB), the European Union's long-term lending institution, will co-finance the second Chair of Mediterranean Studies at the European University Institute (EUI) of Fiesole (Florence, Italy). The grant will be corresponded between 1999 and 2002.
The EIB Chair will also be supported by Compagnia San Paolo di Torino and other Italian banking foundations.
The Chair will be devoted to research and teaching in finance and development economics with particular focus on the Mediterranean basin. It will thus complement the scope - law and political science- of the first Mediterranean Chair, which was inaugurated in January and which is funded by ENI, Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze and Mediocredito Centrale, all EIB borrowers.
The "Mediterranean Project" of the EUI aims at making the Institute a gathering point for all research on Mediterranean themes at an EU level. Professors from Universities of the Southern Mediterranean will give seminars in Fiesole, aiming at establishing sound links between the EUI and the most prestigious research centres of the Mediterranean countries.
The EUI, whose Principal is Dr. Patrick Masterson, former head of University College Dublin, was founded by the Member States of the European Community in 1972. Since then it has opened its doors to over 1,400 researchers for post-graduate studies, mainly PhDs.
Its main mission is to contribute to the development of the cultural and scientific heritage of Europe through teaching and research at the university level.
The EUI currently hosts about 450 research students, mainly from the EU-Member States, and 30 post-doctoral "Jean-Monnet Fellows", sponsored by the European Commission. The teaching staff at present numbers some 45 professors from all over Europe, who are joined every year by a number of visiting professors from some of the world's most prestigious research institutions and universities.
The financial year 1998 saw EIB lending operations totalling EUR 29.5 billion (+13%), while Bank borrowings ran to an equally high level, i.e. some EUR 31 billion (+30%). Aggregate loans made available in Italy alone amounted to EUR 4.3 billion. The main thrust of EIB activity over the past year was dedicated towards: paving the way for successful introduction of the euro; underpinning capital investment designed to promote modernisation and growth in Europe and; extending support to the Central and Eastern European Countries with a view to their future membership of the Union.Under its November 1997 Amsterdam Special Action Programme (ASAP), the Bank has approved loans totalling EUR 3 billion in favour of innovative projects in the education and health sectors incorporating significant investment in human capital.