‘Team Europe’ or the Battle of the Banks: Explaining the Evolution of the Pan-European Development Finance

Presented as a significant step for European integration driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, Team Europe combines the resources of the European Union (EU), its member states, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) under a single logo to support shared development objectives. This paper examines ‘Team Europe’ through the lens of new intergovernmentalism as the latest in a series of reforms to European external development finance dating back to the 1950s. These reforms have been marked by dynamism but also a reluctance to delegate new powers to European institutions. Team Europe continues this trend by expanding the EU’s ambitions as a development actor while reinforcing the role of national development financial institutions. Member states’ desire to preserve the perceived legitimating role of development finance and doubts about the EIB as a development bank help to explain why the Team Europe approach was preferred to the 2019 Wieser Report’s more radical plans for a centralised European development finance architecture.