EN 
 
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 
of 28 November 2008 
at the request of the Polish Minister for Finance  
on a draft law on the provision of State Treasury support to financial institutions 
(CON/2008/80) 
 
Introduction and legal basis  
On 10 November 2008 the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the Polish Minister for 
Finance for an opinion on a draft law on the provision of  State Treasury support to financial institutions 
(hereinafter the ‘draft law’).  
The ECB’s competence to deliver an  opinion is based on Article 105(4) of the Treaty establishing the 
European Community and the third and sixth indents 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 law relates to a nationa l central bank (Narodowy Bank Polski, (NBP)) 
and contains rules applicable to fi nancial institutions insofar as they ma terially 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 law 1.1 The draft law aims at re-establishing appropriate  liquidity conditions in the financial market by 
enabling the Minister for Finance to use, until 31 December 2009, a number  of measures with the 
aim of providing State Treasury support to financial institutions
2 (hereinafter, the ‘support 
measures’). The draft law specifies five categories of financial institutions established in Poland 
eligible to benefit from the support measures: banks3, investment funds, investment fund 
associations4, brokerage houses and insurance companies5.  
                                                 
1  OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42. 
2  See Articles 1 and 18 of the draft law. See the explanatory memorandum to the draft law, p. 1. 
3  Credit institutions registered in Poland are legally referred to  as ‘banks’ (this definition does not cover the Polish version  
of credit unions, operating pursuant to the Law of 14 Decem ber 1995 on cooperative savings  and loan associations 
(Dz. U. of 4 January 1996 No 1, Item 2, as amended)). The te rm ‘credit institutions’ as used in Polish law only relates to 
European Economic Area (EEA) credit inst itutions from outside Poland. Non-EEA cr edit institutions are referred to 
under Polish law as ‘foreign banks’ (Article 2, Article 4(1), Article 4(3) and Articles 4(17) to (20) of the Law on banking 
of 29 August 1997 (consolidated text: Dz.U. of 12  June 2002 No 72, Item  665, as amended).  
4  An investment fund has a legal personal ity under Polish law but may only be repr esented through an investment fund 
association (which is a special type of joint stock compan y, normally administrating a numbe r of investment funds with 
2 1.2 The draft law provides for the following types of support measures, of which the first two are 
available to banks only6: 
(i) a State guarantee for the repayment of the refinancing credit extended to a bank by NBP, 
under the conditions set out in Article 42(4)  of the Law on Narodowy Bank Polski of 
29 August 1997 (hereinafter the ‘Law on NBP’)7. Such a State guarantee may cover up to 
50% of the amount of the NBP’s refinancing credit remaining to be paid. It is to be granted 
at the request of NBP’s President, by means of  an agreement between the Finance Minister 
and the beneficiary bank8; 
(ii)  a State guarantee for the repayment of the credit facility or loan provided within a line of 
credit extended by a bank to another bank, in wh ich case the State guarantee is granted at the 
request of the banks concerned by means of an  agreement between the Finance Minister and 
the beneficiary bank9; 
(iii) loans of Treasury securities to financial institu tions, at the request of the financial institution 
concerned 10; and  
(iv) preferential sales of Treasury securities to fi nancial institutions, involving deferred payment, 
payment in instalments or a sale directed to a specified institution, at the request of the 
financial institution concerned11.  
All support measures are granted by the Minister  for Finance, following consultation with the 
Financial Supervision Commiss ion and the NBP’s President12. The Minister for Finance may 
require the beneficiary institution to provide co llateral covering the obligation to repay the full 
amount of the support, including interest13. 
 2. General observations  2.1 The ECB recalls that it is important for nationa l authorities to coordinate their responses to the 
current financial situation with their EU part ners. Given the similarities of the causes and 
consequences of the financial crisis across Memb er States and the potential interdependencies of 
policy responses, the ECB notes that coordination is already taking place at the European and 
                                                                                                                                                             
various investment models); see Article s 3(1), 4(1) and 4(2) of the Law on i nvestment funds (Dz.U. of 28 June 2004 
No 146, Item 1546, as amended). 
5  Article 2 of the draft law. 
6  See Article 3(2) of the draft law. 
7  Consolidated text: Dz.U. of 1 April 2005 No 1, item 2, as am ended. See further description of the conditions specified in 
Article 42(4) of Law on NBP in paragraph 4.2(ii) of this opinion. 
8  See Article 3(1)(1) and Article 4 of the draft law. 
9  See Article 3(1)(1) and Article 5 of the draft law. 
10  See Article 3(1)(2)and Article 10 of the draft law. 
11  See Article 3(1)(3) to (5) and Articles 11 to 13 of the draft law. 
12  See Article 16(4) of the draft law. 
13  See Article 3(3) and (4) of the draft law. 
3 international level to restore confidence and preser ve financial stability. More specifically, the ECB 
refers to: 
(i) the conclusions adopted at the Ecofin meeting on 7 October 2008, which highlighted 
common principles to guide the action of Member  States as follows: (i) interventions should 
be timely and the support should in principle be  temporary; (ii) the interests of taxpayers 
should be protected; (iii) existing shareholde rs should bear the due consequences of the 
intervention; (iv) the government should be  in a position to bring about a change of 
management; (v) management s hould not retain undue benefits ; (vi) governments may have, 
inter alia , the power to intervene in remuneration; a nd (vii) legitimate interest of competitors 
must be protected, in particular through the State aid rules, and negative spill-over effects 
should be avoided14; 
(ii) the ‘Declaration on a concerted European ac tion plan of the euro area countries’, adopted on 
12 October 2008 by the Heads of States of the euro area, as subsequently endorsed by the European Council on 16 October 2008 for al l Member States (hereinafter ‘the Paris 
Declaration’)
15. In the Paris Declaration, the Member States confirmed their commitment to 
act together in a decisive and comprehensive way in order to restore confidence and the proper functioning of the financial system, with the aim of restoring appropriate and efficient 
financing conditions for the economy. They agr eed on common principles to be followed by 
the EU governments, central banks and superv isors to avoid national measures adversely 
affecting the functioning of the single market and the other Member States. The Paris Declaration further states that Member States ha ve to act in a coordinated manner to avoid 
significant differences in national implemen tation having a counter-productive effect, 
creating distortions in global banking markets. In this context, the need to work in 
cooperation with the ECB was also emphasise d. Against this background, the ECB has 
repeatedly highlighted that all the initiatives put in place by national governments to restore 
confidence in financial markets should be ai med at implementing such common principles, 
in a spirit of close cooperation with other Member States and EU institutions
16.  
2.2 The ECB wishes to draw the consulting authority’ s attention to the recent ECB opinions issued at 
the request of other Member States, whereby the ECB has commented on legislative proposals 
sharing some of the features of the Polish scheme17. It is the ECB’s intention to facilitate 
                                                 
14  See the press release of the 2894th Council meeting (13784/08), avai lable on the Council’s website, 
www.consilium.europa.eu. 
15  See the Declaration of 12 Octobe r 2008, available on the French Pres idency’s website at www.ue2008.fr. 
16  Cf., for example, paragraph 2.4 of ECB Opinion CON/2008/44 of 3 October 2008 at the request of the Irish Minister for 
Finance on a draft Credit Institutions (Financial Support)  Bill 2008; paragraph 2.2 of ECB Opinion CON/2008/46 of 
8 October 2008 at the request of the Belgian Ministry of Finance on a preliminary draft law on measures promoting 
financial stability and in particular es tablishing a State guarantee for the provisi on of credit in the context of financial 
stability. 
17  See, for example, ECB Opinion CON/2008/48 of 15 October 2008 at the request of the Irish Minister for Finance on a 
draft Credit Institutions (Financial Support) Scheme 2008;  ECB Opinion CON/2008/50 of 17 October 2008 at the request 
of the Belgian Ministry of Finance on a draft royal decree adopted under Article 117 bis of the Law of 2 August 2002 on 
the supervision of the financial sect or and on financial services; ECB Opin ion CON/2008/52 of 17 October 2008 at the 
4 coordination of the various national efforts addressing the current financial situation, inter alia , 
through the timely adoption and publication of ECB opinions on such draft national legislation18. 
  3. Specific observations 3.1 Eligibility for support 
 Article 2 of the draft law provides that support meas ures will be available to  financial institutions 
established in Poland and falling within one  of the covered categories, which, inter alia , implies 
that Polish subsidiaries of financial institutions established in other Member States are covered by 
the draft law. The ECB welcomes the above provi sion, as it avoids the preferential treatment of 
specific financial institutions and a possibl e distortion of the level playing field
19. 
3.2 Scope and remuneration of State guarantees 
 As regards the support measures in the form of State guarantees under Articles 4 to 8 of the draft 
law, the ECB considers that the proposed arrange ments in their practical implementation should 
aim at: (i) addressing the funding problems of liquidity-constrained solvent banks by improving the functioning of the market for bank debt of longe r term maturity; (ii) preserving the level playing 
field among financial institutions an d avoiding market distortions; and (iii) ensuring consistency 
with NBP’s liquidity management
20. The ECB makes the following specific comments in this 
regard:  
(i) The ECB considers that further clarification is needed in the draft law as regards the type of 
liabilities that the State guarantees may cover. In  particular, the ECB notes that the draft law 
does not explicitly exclude interbank deposits  from among the obligations that may be 
secured with a State guarantee. In this respect, the ECB recalls that State guarantees to cover 
interbank deposits should be avoided as they ha ve the potential to interfere with the conduct 
of the central bank’s liquidity-providing opera tions, and thus on the transmission of NBP’s 
monetary policy decisions21. The ECB considers that State guarantees to be provided under 
the draft law may have an economic character of guarantees for the repayment of the interbank deposits if the guarantee is provided for the repayment of an unsecured loan drawn 
                                                                                                                                                             
request of the Spanish State Secretary for Economic Affair s on a Royal Decree-Law creating a Fund for the acquisition of 
financial assets and on a Royal Decree-Law  adopting urgent financial and economic measures in relati on to the concerted 
European action plan of the euro area countries; ECB Opinion CON/2008/54 of 17 October 2008 at the request of the 
Danish Ministry of Economic and Busi ness Affairs on a proposed Law on financ ial stability; ECB Opinion CON/2008/55 
of 20 October 2008 at the request of the Austrian Ministry of Finance on draft legal measures to ensure the stability of the 
Austrian financial market; ECB Opin ion CON/2008/56 of 21 October 2008 at the request of the Banque de France on a 
draft amending finance law for the financing of the ec onomy, ECB Opinion CON/2008/57 of 21 October 2008 at the 
request of the German Ministry of Finance on a Law on the implementation of a package of measures to stabilise the 
financial market and an order on its implementation and ECB Opinion CON/2008/62  of 29 October 2008 at the request of 
the Swedish Ministry of Finance on a draft ordinance on Stat e guarantees for banks, etc. All ECB opinions are available 
on the ECB website at  www.ecb.europa.eu. 
18  All ECB opinions are available on th e ECB’s website at: www.ecb.europa.eu. 
19  Cf., for example, paragraph 3.2 of Opinion CON/2008/57. 
20  Cf., for example, paragraph 2.1.2 of Opinion CON/2008/62. 
21  Cf., for example, paragraph 3.2 of Opinion CON/2008/50 and paragraph 2.3 of Opinion CON/2008/54. 
5 by the borrower bank. This may be the case, in  particular, for guarantees provided (i) under 
Article 4(1) of the draft law together with Article 42(4) (1) of the Law on NBP for the repayment of NBP’s refinancing credit in the form of an unsecured line of credit; and (ii) under Article 5(1) of the draft law for th e repayment of unsecured interbank loans arising 
from the lines of credit. The ECB recommends th at provision of State guarantees which have 
the economic characteristics of gua rantees for deposits be avoided. 
(ii)  The ECB also notes that the Paris Declar ation states that the Member State governments 
would make available a State guarantee with re gard to new medium term (up to 5 years) 
bank senior debt issuance. The ECB understands that the draft law empowers the Minister 
for Finance to provide State guarantees on the basi s of the agreements to be entered into until 
the end of 2009, while the maximum time limit for guaranteed obligations remains 
undefined
22. The ECB recommends that the draft law be amended to ensure full compliance 
with the Paris Declaration’s criteria in this respect23. 
(iii) Article 8 of the draft law provides for a fee that may be charged on a beneficiary bank in 
connection with the provision of the State guarant ee, the level of which is to be set in the 
relevant agreement. In this respect, the ECB poi nts out that the fee charged in respect of the 
provision of the State guarantee should be risk -based and determined on the basis of the 
costs of a corresponding guarantee under normal market conditions. For the sake of transparency, a further more precise indication should be given on the method to be used to calculate the fees. The ECB recalls in this resp ect that it is of crucial importance to ensure 
harmonisation of the price for such guarantees within the EU, to ensure a level playing 
field
24. Moreover, the ECB understands that the fees under Article 8(1) of the draft law are to 
be imposed on the beneficiaries of the support m easures, and that no such fee will be charged 
to NBP, even though it is the party which formally requests the State guarantee to be 
provided in respect of the repayment of the NBP’s own refinancing credit25. Similarly, the 
ECB understands that NBP will not be requested  to establish collateral in connection with 
the provision of a State guarantee under Article 3(3) of the draft law. For the sake of clarity and legal certainty, the ECB recommends that the draft law should expressly refer to the beneficiary institution as the party which is obliged to pay the fee under Article 8(1) of the draft law, and which may be required to provi de collateral under Article 3(3) of the draft 
law. 
                                                 
22  See Article 18 of the draft law and comment to this Article in the explanatory memorandum to the draft law.  
23  See, for example, paragraphs  3.4-3.5 of Opinion CON/2008/55. 
24  See, for example, paragraph 2.1.3 of Opinion CON/2008/62. 
25  See, however, Article 16(1) and the introductory part of the explanatory memorandum to the draft law which both suggest 
that a request for provision of the support measures is  in all cases submitted by the applicant institution. 
6 3.3  Conditions of support 
According to the provisions of the Paris Declaration, and as noted in past ECB opinions26, the 
support provided under the draft law should be designed  in order to avoid any distortion in the level 
playing field and possible abuse at the expense of non-beneficiaries. The ECB notes that the draft law provides that the specific conditions for granting the support in relation to beneficiary institutions will be decided by the Minister for Fi nance and set out in an agreement to be entered 
into with such institutions (potentially on th e basis of the pre-defined framework agreement)
27. The 
explanatory memorandum to the draft law clarifi es that such contractual conditions may include 
rules regarding: (i) the manner of application of  the received support, whereby it is envisaged, in 
particular, that the beneficiary institution will be obliged to only use the funds obtained for 
covering funding needs directly related to its ongoi ng business; and (ii) the beneficiary institution’s 
necessary financial discipline, whereby, in particul ar, limitations are envisaged as regards executive 
remuneration and dividend payouts. The ECB recommends inclusion in the draft law of the main principles according to which contractual conditions  for the use of support measures will be set, in 
accordance with the abovementione d Paris Declaration criteria. In the same vein, the ECB would 
welcome the inclusion in the draft law of more spec ific conditions which woul d have to be satisfied 
before the Minister for Finance could partially waive the repayment of support under Article 14 of 
the draft law.  
3.4 As a general remark, in line with its previous opinions
28, the ECB reiterates the importance of 
ensuring that the regulatory practice under the pr oposed arrangements will be conducted in full 
compliance with the relevant Community law prov isions, including EU single market principles 
and financial services legislation, as well as competition and State aid rules. In the latter respect, the ECB draws the consulting authority’s attenti on to the Commission’s r ecently adopted guidance 
on compliance by the financial sector su pport schemes with EU State aid rules
29, which includes in 
the specific context of the provision of State guara ntees, detailed rules on the setting of eligibility 
criteria for the beneficiary institutions30.  
 
                                                 
26  See, for example, paragraph 3.5 of Opinion CON/2008/57.  
27 See Articles 8(2) and 16(4) of the draft law. 
28  See, for example, paragraph 3.3 of Opinion CON/2008/57. 
29  See the ‘Communication from the Commission – The application of State aid rules to measures taken in relation to 
financial institutions in the context of the current gl obal financial crisis’ of 13 October 2008, available on the 
Commission’s website at www.ec.europa.eu (h ereinafter the ‘Commi ssion’s guidance’). 
30  See paragraph 18 of the Commission’s guida nce, specifying that ‘The eligibility criteria of financial institutions … must 
be objective, taking due acco unt of their role in the relevant banki ng system and the overall economy, and non-
discriminatory so as to avoid undue distortive effects on ne ighbouring markets and the intern al market as a whole. In 
application of the principle of non disc rimination on the grounds of nationality, all institutions incorporated in the 
Member State concerned, including subsidiaries, and with si gnificant activities in that Me mber State should be covered 
by the scheme’. 
7 4.  Role of NBP and the monetary financing prohibition 
4.1 NBP’s role under the draft law is as follows: (i) pursuant to Article 4(2) of the draft law, NBP’s 
President makes a formal request to the Minist er for Finance for a State guarantee covering the 
repayment of an NBP’s refinancing credit31; and (ii) pursuant to Article 16(4) of the draft law, NBP 
is consulted, along with the Financial Superv ision Commission (FSC), on the Minister for 
Finance’s decision to use supporting measures in re lation to a given institution. The ECB notes that 
the precise scope of advice to be provided by  the FSC and by NBP is not specified and 
recommends that more specific provisions are included in the draft law in this respect, in particular 
as regards the body assessing the compliance of th e beneficiary institution with the conditions 
linked to the support measures provided. As a general point, the ECB expects that all the 
abovementioned functions to  be performed by NBP will be conducted in a manner fully compatible 
with NBP’s institutional and fina ncial independence, as a safeguard  for the proper performance of 
its tasks under the Treaty and the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the 
European Central Bank. It is therefore expected that the involvement of NBP will not go beyond an 
advisory and procedural role and, in particul ar, that it will fully comply with the monetary 
financing prohibition laid down in  Article 101(1) of the Treaty32, interpreted in line with Council 
Regulation (EC) No 3603/93 of 13 December 1993 speci fying definitions for the application of the 
prohibitions referred to in Articles 104 and 104b(1) of the Treaty33. 
4.2 In this context, specifically as regards the s upport measure provided for unde r Article 4 of the draft 
law, i.e. State guarantees for the repaymen t of NBP’s refinancing credit extended under 
Article 42(4) of the Law on NBP, the ECB notes that NBP’s refinancing credit may be extended 
under this provision: (i) as a line of credit open for the specified amount, or (ii) as a ‘lombard facility’, i.e. against pledges of securities, up to an amount corresponding to a specified proportion 
of the face value of such securities; or (iii) in other forms, as specified by the NBP Management 
Board. The ECB further notes that a refinancing credit in the form of a lombard facility may be 
used by NBP in the function of providi ng emergency liquidity assistance (ELA)
34. The ECB recalls 
that ELA as a central bank task consists of li quidity assistance provided by central banks in 
exceptional circumstances and on a case-by-case basis to temporarily illiquid but solvent 
institutions35. It is also noted that, under Article 237(d) of the Treaty, the ECB is entrusted with the 
                                                 
31  See, however, a restriction in footnote 25 of this opinion. 
32  See paragraph 3.2 of Opinion CON/2008/52. 
33  Now Article 101 and Article 103(1) of the Trea ty, respectively, OJ L 332, 31.12.1993, p. 1. 
34  See NBP Management Board Resolution No 44/2008 of 13 October 2008 (Dz. Urz. NBP of 15 October 2008 No 16 
Item 19) amending the NBP Management Board Resolution resolution No 4/2008 of 1 February 2008 introducing ‘Rules 
of refinancing with the lombard credit granted by Narodow y Bank Polski’ (Dz. Urz. NBP of 12 February 2008 No 3 
Item 3, hereinafter the ‘Lombard credit  rules’). Paragraph 2 of the amending re solution introduces a new paragraph 2a to 
Lombard credit rules, envisaging a possibility of provision ‘i n justified cases’ of the lombard facility against types of 
collateral other than bonds and bills issued by the State Treasu ry or NBP. The lombard credit is normally to be repaid on 
the operational day following the day of issuance of the lomb ard credit, but NBP may agree on a longer repayment period 
(see paragraph 7(1) to (2) of Lombard credit rules). 
35  See the ECB Financial Stabil ity Review, December 2006, p. 171 and the ECB’ s Annual Report 1999, p. 98. It is also the 
ECB’s view that ‘national legislation fo reseeing the financing by NCBs [nationa l central banks] of credit institutions 
other than in connection with central ba nking tasks (such as monetary policy, payment systems or temporary liquidity 
8 task of monitoring the compliance of all ESCB ce ntral banks with the prohibition on monetary 
financing36. 
4.3  In the above context, the ECB understands that Article 4(1) of the draft law introduces an explicit 
legal basis for the provision of State guarantees securing the repayment of NBP’s refinancing credit, including in cases where such credit is pr ovided as ELA. As stated by the ECB in another 
opinion
37, the following criteria need to be met to en sure that the extensi on by the ESCB central 
banks of ELA secured by a State guarantee comp ly with the monetary financing prohibition. 
First , the central bank needs to independently exer cise full discretion regarding the decision 
whether to extend ELA in exceptional circumstan ces. The ECB understands that such decision 
would be the sole responsibility of NBP’s Management Board38. The ECB is of the view that the 
same degree of independence should be exercised by  NBP in this respect as in the performance of 
its ESCB-related tasks. Explicit provisions to this ef fect could be considered, by analogy with other 
draft national provisions dir ectly addressing the extension of ELA by ESCB central banks39. 
Second,  it should be ensured that  the credit provided by the NBP is as short term as possible. The 
ECB would welcome any clarification in this regard , at least in the explanatory memorandum to the 
draft law . Third,  there must be systemic stability aspects at stake. In the present case, the ECB 
understands that the granting of the above credit would be part of the NBP’s contribution to the stability of the financial system.  The ECB reiterates its earlier recommendation that NBP’s 
financial stability function should be ex pressly recognised in the Law on NBP
40. Fourth , there must 
be no doubts as to the legal validity and enforceab ility of the State guarantee under Polish law. In 
this respect, the ECB welcomes the fact that the est ablishment of the State guarantee is enshrined in 
the draft law and expects that set -off mechanism foreseen by Article 6(2) of the draft law will not 
impede effective enforcement of the NBP’s claims41. Fifth , there must be no doubts as to the 
economic adequacy of the State guarantee, which should cover both principal and interest on the 
loans, thus fully preserving NBP’s financial independe nce. Any lack of clarity in the draft law, e.g. 
as regards the party obliged to pay fees, needs to be eliminated. Fu rther, where the State guarantee 
would constitute the sole form of collateral for the ELA operation, it is essential that the State 
                                                                                                                                                             
support operations), in particular to support insolvent credit a nd/or other financial institutions, is incompatible with the 
monetary financing prohibition’ (see the ECB’s May 2006 Convergence Report,  p. 68; the December 2006 Convergence 
Report, p. 30; the May 2007 Convergence Report, p. 22 and the May 2008 Convergence Report, p. 24, which are 
available on the ECB’s webs ite at www.ecb.europa.eu). 
36  See paragraph 4.1 of Opinion CON/2008/46. 
37  See Paragraph 4.3 of Opinion CON/2008/46. 
38  See Article 17(3)(2) of the Law on NBP stipulating that NB P’s Management Board performs such functions as are not 
restricted for other NBP governing bodies. 
39  See paragraph 4.11 of the ECB Opinion CON/2008/42 of 10 September 2008 at the request of the Banque centrale du 
Luxembourg on amendments to the draft law improving the legislative frame work for Luxembourg as a financial centre 
and amending the Law of 23 December 1998 on monetary status and on the Banque centrale du Luxembourg; see 
paragraph 3.3 of Opinion CON/2008/46. 
40  See paragraph 2.2 of the ECB Opinion CON/2008/39 of 1 September 2008 at the request of the Polish Minister for 
Finance on a draft law on the Fi nancial Stability Committee. 
41  Article 6(2) of the draft law foresees that collateral provid ed by the debtor and realised by NBP is to be deducted from 
the scope of the State guarantee. 
9 guarantee covers 100% of the amount of the credit, and not only up to 50% of the amount 
remaining for repayment, as stated in the draft law. 
4.4 Finally, for the sake of completeness, the ECB recalls its stance as expressed in the ECB’s 
Convergence Report42 with respect to Article 42(3) of the Law on NBP, which is outside the scope 
of the present draft law and which allows NBP’s re financing credit to be granted for the purposes 
of implementing bank rehabilitation proceedings. The ECB noted in this regard that ‘safeguards … 
aiming at ensuring timely repayment of the credit do  not fully exclude an interpretation of legal 
provisions that would allow an extension of re financing credit to a bank undergoing rehabilitation 
proceedings which then becomes insolvent. Mo re explicit safeguards are needed to avoid 
incompatibility with the monetary financing pr ohibition under Article 101 of the Treaty’. In the 
present opinion, the ECB reiterates that complian ce with Article 101 of the Treaty is a necessary 
element of the regulation of the refinancing cred it. The obligation of ensuring such compliance is 
binding on the Polish authorities as of the da te of Poland’s EU accession, i.e. 1 May 200443. 
 
This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website.   Done at Frankfurt am Main, 28 November 2008. 
 
[signed] 
 
The President of the ECB 
Jean-Claude TRICHET 
 
                                                 
42  See the ECB’s Convergence Report of December 2006, p. 228 and the ECB’s Convergence Report of May 2008, p. 244. 
43  See the ECB’s Convergence Report of May 2008, p. 22.