The European Investment Bank and Piraeus Bank have agreed on a €100 million financing framework aimed at boosting Greek small and medium-sized defence and cybersecurity companies as part of a wider EU push to strengthen its defence industry.
The European Investment Bank, the European Union’s lending institution, has entered into an agreement with Greece’s Piraeus Bank to channel up to €100 million in financing to small and medium-sized companies operating in the defence sector. The arrangement forms part of the EIB’s broader plan to allocate at least €3 billion to support the development of the EU’s defence industry, a figure that could be increased should demand exceed expectations.
Piraeus Bank is the first lender in Greece to participate in such a scheme with the EIB, marking a milestone in the country’s efforts to strengthen domestic defence and cybersecurity capabilities. Speaking at a press conference in Athens, Piraeus chief executive Christos Megalou said the partnership would allow the bank to mobilise as much as €200 million for several hundred Greek small and medium-sized enterprises active in cybersecurity and defence-related activities, by leveraging the EIB-backed funding.
Similar initiatives have already been launched elsewhere in Europe, with Germany’s Deutsche Bank having signed a comparable agreement with the EIB in June. The move also aligns with Greece’s longer-term defence strategy, under which the government intends to spend more than €28 billion on arms procurement by 2035 as part of a wider military modernisation programme, with a quarter of that expenditure earmarked for domestic defence companies.
Eirini Botonaki, a senior loan officer at the EIB, said the bank was also in talks with other Greek lenders about potential agreements of a similar nature, signalling the possibility of further support for the country’s defence-focused small and medium-sized businesses.
