In late July 2023, the Commission published its fourth semi-annual report on the execution of EU borrowing and lending operations, covering the period January 2023 – July 2023. These were the first six months in which the Commission extended the use of the diversified funding strategy – first developed in 2021 to finance NextGenerationEU – to its other borrowing programmes, hence creating a unified funding approach for all EU borrowing and lending operations.  

The report also sets out the steps that the Commission is taking to further develop the EU-Bond ecosystem and enhance the liquidity of EU-Bonds (quoting framework, EU issuance service and repurchase facility). Finally, the half-yearly report provides an outlook for EU-Bond issuance in the second half of 2023.

A novelty of the report is the inclusion of the Commission’s overarching debt management strategy, along with the indicators that can be used to monitor its implementation. In addition to providing a one-stop shop for key statistics on the implementation of EU’s borrowing operations, this new annex also addresses the recommendation of the European Court of Auditors (ECA)* for more transparency in this area.

 You can read the full report by clicking here.