EN 
 
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 
of 21 April 2009 
at the request of the Greek Ministry of Economy and Finance on a draft amendment to the Law on 
enhancing liquidity of the economy to address the impact of the international financial crisis 
(CON/2009/39) 
 Introduction and legal basis
 
On 10 April 2009 the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the Greek Ministry of 
Economy and Finance for an opinion on a draft amen dment to the Law on enhancing liquidity of the 
economy to address the impact of the international fina ncial crisis (hereinafter the ‘draft amendment’). 
The ECB’s competence to deliver an  opinion is based on Article 105(4) of the Treaty establishing the 
European Community and the sixth indent of Article 2(1) of Council Decision 98/415/EC of 
29 June 1998 on the consultation of the European Ce ntral Bank by national authorities regarding draft 
legislative provisions1, as the draft amendment relates to rules ap plicable to financial institutions insofar 
as they materially influence the stability of financial institutions and markets. In  accordance with the first 
sentence of Article 17.5 of the Rules of Procedure of the European Central Bank, the Governing Council 
has adopted this opinion. 
 1.  Purpose of the draft amendment 
The draft amendment clarifies and supplements Ar ticle 1 of Law 3723/2008 on enhancing liquidity 
of the economy to address the impact of the international financial crisis
2 (hereinafter the ‘Law’). 
In particular, the draft amendment specifies that, for the purposes of increasing the share capital of 
a corporate bank ( société anonyme ) pursuant to Article 1 of the Law in conjunction with Decision 
542a/B2884/26-11-2008 of the Minister for Economy and Finance implementing the Law3 
(hereinafter the ‘Decision’), the valuation of the bonds contributed by the Greek State for the purpose of taking up the shares issued in the cont ext of the share capital increase must take place 
before the State takes up the shares. The valuation is to be carried out by a committee composed of 
two independent certified auditors, which will be appointed by a decision of the Minister for 
Economy and Finance. The valuation will be based on the features of the bonds contributed, which 
                                                 
1  OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.  
2  FEK  250 A/9.12.2008. 
3 FEK  2471V/4.12.2008. 
2 will be defined by the competent department of the Ministry of Economy and Finance. 
Furthermore, in case of a repurchase of preference shares with Greek Government bonds, the same committee will carry out the valuation of the bonds. 
As provided for in the draft amendment, a decisi on of the Minister for Economy and Finance will 
define the time for the submission of the comm ittee’s report to the Ministry of Economy and 
Finance and to the relevant credit institution, as well as the remuneration of the members of the 
committee. 
Furthermore, the draft amendment introduces a derogation from the provisions of Article 9 of 
Codified Law 2190/1920 governing the valuati on of contributions to corporations ( sociétés 
anonymes ), inter alia  in the event of an incr ease in their share capital. 
In addition, the draft amendment provides that the abovementioned valuation report will not be 
subject to the publicity requirements provided fo r in Article 7b of Codified Law 2190/1920, and 
also stipulates that in case of a capital increase for the redemption of preference shares, the relevant 
decision will be taken pursuant to Article 29 (1 ) and (2) and Article 31(1) of Codified Law 
2190/1920. 
Moreover, the draft amendment provides that it prevails over any decisions of the general 
assemblies of the relevant credit institutions in the event of conflict, and th at its provisions apply 
from 1 January 2009. According to the explanat ory memorandum to the draft amendment, as the 
new provisions clarify and supplement Article 1 of  the Law governing share capital increases, it is 
appropriate that they enter into force prior to the submission of requests for share capital increase 
by the credit institutions concerned and the grant of the relevant approvals. 
 2. General observations 
In its Opinion CON/2008/79 of 27 November 2008, the ECB has already commented on the Law 
and on the Decision, both of which are referred to in  the draft amendment. To the extent relevant, 
the observations made in Opinion CON/2008/79 also apply to the changes proposed by the draft amendment.  
In particular, the ECB notes that the recapitalis ation measures considered in Member States are 
aimed at strengthening the capital position of fundame ntally sound financial institutions in order to 
improve the functioning and stability of the banking system and to ensure the proper financing of 
the economy. The ECB notes that the above princi ples should be taken into consideration in the 
valuation of the bonds contributed by the Greek State for the purposes of increasing the share capital of corporate banks to ensure a consis tent approach to defining the conditions for 
recapitalisation. 
3 Against this background, the ECB reiterates that  in line with the ‘Declaration on a concerted 
European action plan of the euro area countries’4, the conditions for capital support should aim at 
protecting the interests of taxpayers and respecti ng the level playing-field among institutions in the 
euro area. In addition, the ECB highlights that the pricing conditions for capital support should be 
risk-based and market-oriented, determined by taki ng into consideration the specific risk of both 
the specific instrument chosen fo r injecting capital and the institution concerned. Specific features 
of the instruments for capital injections should be  appropriately chosen so that, while encouraging 
an early end to the State’s capital support of banks , they should not result in an excessive increase 
in the cost of capital. 
Finally, the ECB understands that the draft amendm ent aims to ensure the proper implementation 
of Article 1 of the Law by adjusting the rules appl ying to the valuation of Government bonds to be 
carried out for the purposes of increasing the share capital of corporate banks to reflect the specific 
and temporary nature of this recapitalisation measure.  
 
3.  Specific observations 
The ECB has no specific observations on the draft amendment.  
 This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website.    Done at Frankfurt am Main, 21 April 2009. 
 
[signed] 
 
The President of the ECB 
Jean-Claude TRICHET 
 
 
                                                 
4  The Declaration is av ailable on the website of the former  French Presidency at www.ue2008.fr.