ARCHIVESHISTORIQUES
DELACOMMISSION
COLLECTION RELIEEDES
DOCUMENTS "COM"
COM(80)271
Vol.1980/0103

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/•
COM(80)271final
COMMISSION Brussels,22ndMay1980
OFTHE
iUROPEANCOMMUNITIES FOROFFICIALUSEONLY
GeneralSecretariat
REQUESTFORAGLOBALLOAN,PURSUANT TOARTICLE56,2a)
OFTHEECSCTREATY,FORFINANCING INVESTMENTS IN
INDUSTRIAL ANDSERVICEACTIVITIES,
ONBEHALFOF"CREDITNATIONAL"(FRANCE)
(Communication fromtheCommission totheCouncil)
C0M(80)271final

COMMISSION
OFTHE
EUROPEANCOMMUNITIES
Internaldocument
COMMUNICATION TOTHECOUNCIL
Subject;Requestforagloballoan,pursuanttoArticle56,2a)ofthe
ECSCTreaty,forfinancingInvestmentsinindustrialandservice
activities,onbehalfofCreditnational(France)
I„BASICINFORMATION
Applicant
Beneficiaries
Proiect
Amountofinvestments JMinimum100FFmillion <+17.23MEUA)
Location !ECSCconversionregionsinFranceindiffl
culty
Globalloanrequested :FF50million(8.612MEUA)
Interestrebate :3percentagepointsannuallyfor5years
for8.612MEUA
Jobscreated :500jobsminimum
H.CONFORMITY WITHARTICLE56OFTHEECSCTREATY
VariousFrenchregionsaregoingtoexperienceorareexperiencingalready
redundancies incoalorsteelconcerns:Auvergne,Burgundy,Champagne-
Ardenne,Lorraine,Nord/Pad-de-Calais,Rh&ne-Alpes,amongothers-
5ionoIoddrcss:RuedelaLoi200,B–1040Brussels–Telephone350040-358040–Telegrophicadd^css:•COMEURBfusstîl$»••
Telex:.COMEURBRU 21877.:Créditnational-France
:Industrial andserviceactivitiesofmedium
andsmallsizeinECSCconversionareas
(France)1ndifficulty
:Creationofsmallandmediumsizeconcerns
iMinimum100FFmillion <+17.23MEUA)
:ECSCconversionregionsinFrance1ndnffi-
culty
:FF50million(8.612MEUA)
:3percentagepointsannuallyfor5years
for8.612MEUA
:500jobsminimum

Theseredundancies,concerningveryunequalnumbersfromoneregiontoanother
(severalthousandinLorraineorinNord/Pas-de-Calais,toseveralhundredin
AuvergneorBourgogne),are,whatevertheirrelativesize,anadditionalburden
fortheregionsinvolvedwhentimesareverydifficultfortheeconomy.
Forveryindustrialised regions,suchasLorraineorNord/Pas-de-Calais,major
effortstocreatelargenumbersofjobstoabsorbredundancies havebeenmade
(especiallyinthemotorvehiclesector,butitdoesnotappearthatmeasures
ofthiskindcanberenewed.Jobcreationmustthereforebeencourgaedand
assistedinsmallandmediumsizeindustries,particularly throughloanswith
favourableinterestrates.
InregionswithlittleorverylittleIndustry,thesameeffortmustbemade
becausethoseregionshavenothadthetraditionofaheavyindustryandbecause
virtuallysmallandmediumsizeindustriesalonehavehithertosuppliedthe
industrial andhandicraftfabric.
•0
THEINTERMEDIARY COMPANY
Thecreditnationalisalimitedcompanyestablished accordingtoprivatelaw.
ItsprincipaltaskistocontributefinanciallytobusinessconcernsbutIts
roledoesnotstopthere:eitherdirectlyortroughItsbranchesorthrough
companiesinwhichithasshares,itcontributestosolvinginotherwaysthe
problemsarisingforconcerns.TheactivityoftheC^ditnationalincludesthe
grantofdirectlongtermloansandmobilising mediumtermcredits*
MoreovertheCreditnationalonlyfinancescompetitiveenterprise.Inprinciple
thereforefirmsareexcluded,whicharehotsubjecttomarketlawsi.e.to
competition.Inthebracketinquestion,forinstance,aretheE.D.F.(Electri-
citedeFrance)ortheS.N.C.F.(Frenchnationalrailways),whicharemonopoly
concerns,whereasRenault,althoughbelongingtothepublicsector,maycall
upontheCreditnational.
TherearenoconditionsotherthanfinancialforgrantingCreditnationalcontri­
butions.Itfinancesconcernsofallsizesandinallindustrialandcommercial
sectorswherevertheyarelocatedinFrance.
Concernsinallindustrialorcommercialsectorsmaybenefitfromtheseloans;
thisincludestheservicessectorjustasmuchasthemetalorchemicalsindus­tries.TheCreditnationalhassince1968carriedoutadecentralisation policy
byinstallingbranchesinmajortowns:Lyon,thesucesslvelyLille,Marseille,
Nantes,Nancy,Bordeaux,Strasbourg,RouenandParis(Champagne,Bourgogne,
Ile-de-France).ThesebranchesarelocatedthroughoutFrance;theirtaskisto
bringmoreandbetteradaptedaidtoregionalbusiness,inparticularto
mediumsizeconcerns,andtoimprovetheinformationofCr6ditnationalasa
wholeonregionalrequirements.

-3-
Thepowersofthesebranchesarewidesincetheymay*UketheParisbranches,
Investigateallrequestsforcreditanddecidetograntloansof1,5million
orless.Abovethatfigure,thedecisionistakenbytheDirectorateGeneral
ortheBoardofDirectorsaccordingtotheamountoftheloan.
-!
Branchactivitiesareimportant;1n1978theyaccountedfor'60%ofloans
grantedand2Q%ofvolume.
LastlyitshouldbementionedthattheCreditnational1sanagentforGovernment
loanstoforeignStatesand,asanECSCmandatory,forhandlingitsloansto
Frenchconcerns <15transactions in1978).
ThelinksoftheCreditnationalwithvariouseconomicandfinancialdepartments
alsotaketheformofloansofmanagerialstafftotheMinistriesofthe
Economy,forIndustry,Agriculture,forPlanning,D.A.T„A.R. (Regionalplanning)
etc.
TheCreditnationalhastoprovideonitsownaccountthemeansforfinancing
directloans.WhenitactsonbehalfoftheState,thelatterprovidesthe
necessarymeans;lastly,inthecaseofmediumtermcredits,itdoesnot
retainthesecuritiesdepositedwithitbyBanksbutitlodgesthemwiththe
BankofFranceeitherdirectlyorinplacingsonthemoneymarket.
IV.THEGLOBALW)AN
TheamountwhichcouldbemadeavailabletotheCreditnationalisFF50
milliontocreateatleast500jobs.
Thisloanwillbemadeavailablebyinstalments andassubsidiaryloansare
approved.Theintermediary companywillsubmiteachsubsidiaryloanforthe
Commission'sapproval.
Thedecisiononsubsidiaryloanswillbetakeninconformitywiththe
criteriaandaimspublishedbytheCommission <0.J.n°C178/2of27July
1977andO.J.n°C82/8of29March1979andespeciallyonthebasisofthe
numberofthenumberofjobscreatedwhichmayemployECSCworkersandwhich
arelinkedtotheamountoftheloanandfixedinvestments.
Therateofinterestofeachinstalmentwillbeapplied,withaninterest
rebate,tosubsidiaryloans.
Thisgloballoan,validfor3years,willcontributetomeettheneedsfor
financingsmallandmediumsizeconcerns,whichoftenhavemoredifficulty
inborrowingonthecapitalmarketthanlargerconcernsandwhich,ingeneral,
investlessbyjobcreatedthanlargerconcerns.
./

-4-
TheCreditnationalwiltreporttotheCommissioneverysixmonthsonthe
use'madeofthisfacility;itwillalsoreportannuallyonthere-employment
offormerECSCworkersinconcernsfinancedthroughthisgloballoan.
IMPACTOFTHELOANONTHEREEMPLOYMENT OFWORKERS
Itisplannedfortheindividualprojectsinreceiptofaidtocreate500new
jobsminimum,intendendforformerECSCworkers.Itisimportanttoencourage
investments outsidetheECSCsectorsintheareasmentioned,especiallythrough
smallandmediumsizeconcerns.Shouldthisdecisionproveinsufficient ,
furtherinstalments maybeenvisaged.
VI,CONCLUSIONS
a)The.Commissionconsidersthattherequestcomplieswiththeconditionsof
Article56,2a)oftheECSCTreaty,Inconsequence,ithasauthorisedthe
granttotheCreditnationalofagloballoanofFF50million(+8,612
MEUA)orofanequivalent amount.Interestpaymentswillbesubjectto
rebateof258,400EUAperyearforthefirstfiveyearsfollowingpayment/s
oftheloan,
b)TheCommission askstheCounciltogiveitsassenttotheforegoing
decision.