Increase in EIB lending under consideration

At the informal summit of heads of state and government, on 1 March in Brussels, Germany, France and Luxembourg spoke in favour of increased lending by the European Investment Bank (EIB) to the automotive sector. “I am going to propose a possible increase in EIB resources for the development of motorisation techniques,” declared German Chancellor Angela Merkel upon arriving at the summit. Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker said he would support such a proposal. French President Nicolas Sarkozy observed the need to “go further” than what exists at present. “I will obtain that in the coming weeks,” he added, true to character.

The subject will in any case be back on the table of the Competitiveness Council, on 5 March, which is set to adopt conclusions along these lines. The draft text reads: “The Council calls on the Commission and the EIB Group to present jointly to the spring European Council options on how to limit the liquidity gap and improve the access to finance for the industry, including financing from EIB sources (eg within the European Clean Transport Facility) in terms of increased rapidity and simplification of the project assessment and financing, without discrimination among manufacturers or member states”. If they adopt these conclusions, the EU ministers will respond to the aims of the
European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA), which has urged the EIB to open up its coffers and which projects that loan applications in 2009 could top €15 billion and a similar amount in 2010. Although the EIB has already hinted that it could step up its lending to the sector in 2009, this option is not in the Commission’s communication on the crisis and the automotive sector, adopted on 25 February. Commissioners Günter Verheugen (industry) and Neelie Kroes (competition) made no allusion to it when
they presented the communication to the press. At best, Kroes said the Commission was doing “its utmost to reopen credit lines”.

ITALIAN AND SPANISH PLANS

The controversy over the protectionism of certain national aid plans for the automotive sector seems to have been put to rest. After stating that the Commission is satisfied
with the guarantees given by France on the eve of the summit (see separate article), a spokesman added, on 2 March, that the executive had received similar guarantees from the Spanish and Italian authorities. The spokesman went on to say that the Italian and Spanish plans would contain no conditions (such as maintaining jobs in the national territory or, in the case of Italy, signing a protocol with the government) that would make them discriminatory. The Commission is therefore “very satisfied,” although it has warned that it will monitor implementation of the plans very closely.

Source: Europolitics