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COM(78)308
Vol.1978/9025

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COM(78)302final.
Bruxelles,le29June1978.
COMMISSION
DES
COMMUNAUTES EUROPEENNES
Secrétariatgénéral
NEGOTIATIONS FORTHEACCESSION -OPGREECE
Proposals
on
theapplication ofcertainactsofCommunitysecondarylegislation
relatingtotheeconomicandfinancialfields
(Communication fromtheCommissiontotheCouncil) Communication
C014(78)302final.

INTRODUCTION
1.This communication deals with various substantive problems which have
emerged from theexamination ofCommunity secondary legislation on <
economic andfinancial matters andmthecase ofwhich ithasbeen ^
recognized with theGreek Delegation that asolution should besought
inthenegotiations .
2.Thefollowing points areinvolved :
(i)relations between thedrachma andtheEuropean ofaccount ;
(ii)whether Greece will have tobear ashare oftheguarantee
obligations relating toloans accorded before itsaccession ;
(iii)application oftheCouncil Directive 01^stability ,growth and
full employment intheCommunity .
Onthese three points theCommissitri^Ls formulating specific proposals
for joint negotiating positions .
3.Ontwoofthethree point s^lealt with inthiscommunication the
Commission proposes spe^j^Lc solutions notcalling foreither a
temporary derogation^Sj ^eventransitional arrangement s.
Ononepoint only isatemporary derogation proposed .TheCommission
would stress that themaximum duration ofthat derogation must be
dictated thecriteria andguidelines applying tothesectoral
propo^p ^atthecurrent stage oftheaccession negotiations withGreece
,asjSe^Pined bytheCouncil on17October 1977*' andelaborated upon on
Ρ10November 1977 attheninth session oftheConference atDeputy
*–level .These criteria andguidelines were also referred toinPart I
oftheCommission communication ontrade inindustrial products within
theenlarged Community 3.
1C0ÏÏF-GR 49/77
2COTF-GR 55/77
3COM (78)21of25January 1978

I.EUROPEANUNITOPACCOUNT
Whenthesecondarylegislation ontheEuropeanunitofaccountwas
beingexaminedtheGreekDelegationindicatedthatitconsideredthatthe^
problemoftheinclusionofthedrachmaintheEUAbasketwasaquestion^j^
whichhadpoliticalovertonesandthereforeasubstantivemattertobe^
dealtwithinthenegotiations .
1 .,.,..InthereportonsecondarylegislationrelatingtotheeconomyandfinancialfieldstheCommissionmadesomeremarksoncertajJij^difficulties
inconnectionwiththeinclusionofthedrachmainthebasket;itis
nowinapositiontoformulateaproposalonthispoint.
TheCommissionconsidersthattheproblemoftheunitofaccountinthe
contextofGreece'saccessionmustbeseenfwiirtwoangless
-relationsbetweenthedrachmaandthe,«
–thefutureoftheELJA.^
A.–RelationsbetweenthedrachmaandtheEuropeanunitofaccount
•(i)Onthebasisofthe^^eptsusedforestablishingthepresent
EQAtheCommissioncons^ij^sthatthedrachma*scontributiontothebasket
wouldnotexceed2$;Q5%changeinthevalueofthedrachmawouldtherefore
affectthevalueoftheEQAinthevariouscurrenciesbyonly0.1^.The
inclusionornon–inclusionofthedrachmaintheEtJAwouldthereforehave
onlyaminiraS^influenceonGreece'srightsandcommitmentsinELJA:
1COM(77)664final

-2-
and sowhatever thedrachma 'sposition vis-a-vis theEQAbasket
Greece will not "beinamore oraless favoured position .Inparticular ,
ifthedrachma were not included inthebasket this would nothave any
X
real negative effect forGreece .
(ii)Themethod forcalculating thevalue oftheunit ofaccount intl^sF "
various national currencies varies according towhether Member State or
non-member State currencies are involved .
Thevalue oftheunit ofaccount inthenational currency Member State
iscalculated byapplying toeachfixed amount ofnatioi^^currency in
thebasket theofficial exchange rateprevailing ontK^market ofthe
currency concerned .
Forinstance ,thecalculation iscurrently inFrankfurt forthe
Deutsch mark ,inCopenhagen fortheDanisljc^abone andinParis forthe
French franee . ''
Thevalue oftheunit ofaccount inthenational currency ofanon-Member
State iscalculated byapplying tothevalue oftheunit ,ofaccount
calculated ontheBrussels market theexchange rate forthecurrency in
question ontheBrussels ci<&rket .
\
Atpresent thevalue^w theEUAindrachma ,although notpublished
officially ,iscalculated onthebasis oftheexchange rates prevailing
inAthens .
•••I•9•

AllEUAtransaction ,whether within theCommunity administrative framework
orinthefinancial ,banking orcommercial fields ,maytherefore beeffected
withregard toGreece according toapractice similar tothat ofthe ^
Member States .Extension ofCommunity secondary legislation onthispoint<^^
whichwillauthorize equality of-treatment oftheGreekStateandGreek^^*
nationals vis-a-visEUAtransactions ,istherefore already assured .
Itwould ,however ,beamistake tothink that onthis point theintroduction
ofthedrachma intotheEUAwould beunlikely toposeanypr^^ems because ,
while thevalue ofthedrachma would becalculated accordi^^toasystem
similar tothatinforce intheMember States thedra^jfipfe ,isnotofficially
quoted ontheCommunity exchange markets .Prom theangle oftaking account
ofthe drachma inthe EUA onthe other markets therefore this constitutes
atechnical obstacle which must not .beoverlooked ,especially astheAthens
exchange market isnotareal exchange ma:ij»§y in "thetechnical sense of
the term .
B.The future ofthe European unit ofaccount
Therecently created European unit ofaccount isthefirst step towards
azone ofmonetary stability*Nj,n Europe .
TheEuropean unit ofao&iant isbeing introduced inCommunity activities
onlyprogressively ,s£^tor bysector .Butitisnotyetusedsystematically
inallthese sectors ofactivity .
Toentire thefuture oftheEUAtherefore means above allultimately using
itinallfields ofCommunity activity butalso encouraging itsuseoutside
those fields ,particularly forbanking andfinancial operations .

This iswhytheCommission feels that theconsequences for thevery -
future oftheEuropean unit ofaccount ofrapidly including thedrachma
intheEQA basket must beexamined .Asthis examination must take
account ofthegeneral prospects ofthecurrent enlargement exercise its
scope becomes even wider .
Toinclude thecurrency ofeach newMember State inturn would mean
successively creating anumber ofunits ofaccount –inother words it
would goagainst thepresent objective ofreplacing allunits ofaccount
byasingle one ;this would lead todiscontinuity ,which carsSonly
discourage theuse,desirable though itis,oftheSUAin^?Ong-term
transactions suchasmultiannual contracts orissues oi^Jsoans inEQA.
Moreover ,atthelevel ofadaptation oftheEQA itislikely that the
inclusion atdifferent dates offurther currencies might each time entail
long anddifficult discussions ,which will btf^a source ofuncertainty for
business . .ft?
Commission proposal
TheCommission isaware ofthepolitical significance which therapid
inclusion ofthedrachma intheEQAbasket mayhave forGreece .Italso
feels thatitwould bein^JB veryinterests oftheenlarged Community
tohaveaunitofaccou$^V:hose composition isasstable aspossible
andwhose existence thus berecognized byeveryone ,with theresult that
itcould beused operationally onthemarket .
This iswhy theCommission proposes that thedrachma should notbeincluded
intheELIA£$h.sket assoon asGreece accedes .This problem could beseen
rather^Jp'the general context ofthepossible needtorebalance allthe
consequents oftheEQAbasket andtotakeaccount ofthepossible accession
ofanother twonewMember States .Such asolution would respect the
legitimate interests ofGreece ,while preserving theprocess ofestablishing

theEQA asanoperational instrument
ItistheCommission 'sview ,however ,that this problem ofincluding
the drachma inthe EUA basket will also besolved before the end of
themaximum period fortheapplication ofthetransitional measures or
<N>
temporary derogations tobeinstituted forthevarious fields ofthe
negotiations®
£
^ -
S-

II.GREECE'SSHAREOPTHEGUARANTEE OBLIGATIONS RELATING TOLOAN'SACCORDED
BEFOREITSACCESSION
CouncilRegulationNo.398/75of17February1975implementingCouncil^
Regulation(EEC)No.397/75concerningCommunityloanslaysdownthe
<N>'conditionsunderwhichtheCommunityisentitledtoreceivefromthe
otherMemherStatesthenecessaryforeignexchangeifthedebtorMember
Statesfindsitselfunabletomakepaymentononeormoreduedates.
InitsEighthReportontheexaminationofCommunitysecondct^ylegislation
(Actsrelatingtotheeconomicandfinancialfields)^the^^^smimissionstated
thatfromtheinternalstandpointoftheenlargedCommu^vtyGreeceshould
participateintheguaranteesystem.Itaddedthatitcould,nevertheless ,
benecessary,inviewofthecontractsalreadyconcludedbetweenthe
Communityasatpresentconstituted andsuppliersoffunds,totakeaccount
ofinformation broughttotheattentionofmarketandinvestorsand
hencetomaintainthebreakdo^setout:U)jJ^egulationNo.393/75*
Commissionproposal
TheCommissionwishestoconfirmthispointofvd'ewfc
1 above.Consequently ,itproposesthatfc^^ommunity loansissuedbefore
theaccessionofGreeceand^^afantep^iDy theMemberStatesoftheCommunity
\vhentheywereissued,Gr^&enotbeassociatedvxiththatguarantee.:sthat *0?^-
;ante;>abytl:
iredldnotbe
^
1COM664finali'ewforthereasonsstated

-7~
Once Greece hasacceded itwill ,however ,have toparticipate in
guaranteeing anynewCommunity loan made after thedate ofaccession .
Inorder todothis ,itwillbenec.essary torevise thepresent scale fo^^allocating theguarantee among Member States :theCommission willbe^
presenting aproposal onthis matter atalater date «
TheCommission therefore proposes thatRegulations 397/75and^^8/75should
beamended asfollows :
i.Greece should bebrought into theguarantee system r>nthe same terms as
thepresent Member States ;
ii.there should beaclause providing fortl^bmaintenance ofthepresent
quotas forallocating theguarantee in^^j^pect ofloancontracts
concluded before thedate trfaccessiai ^
S
ΑS
Φ

III .APPLICATION' OFTHE CCTOTCIL DIRECTIVE (STSTABILITY .GROWTH MPFULL
EMPLOY J3TT HTTHE COMMUNITY
TheCouncil Directive of18February 1974 (74/121/EEC)onstability ,growth ^
andfullemployment intheCommunity'' stipulates thateachMember State mu^t^
possess anadequate setofeconomic policy instruments .
Tothis end ,Article 9.of Directive specifies that theMember States
should confer upon their monetary authorities instruments andpowers to
enable them inparticular tohave recourse toanopen market jrt&icy .
Greece does notatpresent possess thelatter instrument tc^khat iswhy ,
initsEighth Report ontheexamination ofCommunity s^jndary legislation
(Actsrelating totheeconomic andfinancial fields )^%ieCommission
stated that there remained thequestion ofwhether theactofaccession should
stipulate atime-limit soastooblige theGreek authorities totake
thenecessary measures quickly .
Commission proposal ^5^
TheCommission considers ,inthelighjWtJf thestatements mr.cle bythe
Greek Delegation totheeffect that amonetary andcapital market could
bedeveloped rapidly ,that theactofaccession must make provision for
atemporary derogation inrespect oftheintroduction oftheopen market
.policy ,
Theduration ofthis^^ogation remains tobedetermined :itmust ,however ,
fit inharmoniously with themeasures tobetaken intheeconomic and
financial fields .
10JL635.3.74 ,P-19
C0M (77)664final .