ARCHIVESHISTORIQUES
DELACOMMISSION
COLLECTION RELIEEDES
DOCUMENTS "COM"
COM(79)496
Vol.1979/0170

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COMMISSION
OFTHE
EUROPEAN COMMUNITIESCOM(79)496final
Brussels,24thSeptember1979
FOROFFICIAL USEONLY
GeneralSecretariat
REQUEST FORAGLOBALLOANONBEHALFOFINVESTMENTS
ININDUSTRY ANDSERVICEACTIVITYINTHELOIREREGION,
PURSUANT TOARTICLE56OFTHEECSCTREATY-N°246:
BANQUEPOPULAIRE DELALOIRE(FRANCE)
(Communication fromtheCommission totheCouncil)
C0M(79)496final

COMMUNICATION TOTHECOUNCIL
Subject:Requestforagloballoanonbehalfofinvestments inindustryand
serviceactivityintheLoireregion*pursuanttoArticle56ofthe
ECSCTreaty-N°246:BanquePopulaire delaLoire(France).
• •
I.BASICINFORMATION
Applicant
Finalbeneficiaries
Project
Location
Globalamountof
-investments
«ν*
Globalloanrequested
Interestrebate
Jobscreated:BanquePopulaire delaLoire ..-
:Variousenterprises
:Thecreationandextension ofsmalland
mediumsizeconcerns
:Loire(Rhone-Alpes )
:FF40millionminimum
(+6.86million EUA)
:FF20million(+3.43million EUA)
103,000EUAayearforthefirst,5years
200jobsminimumareintendedbywayof
priorityforformerECSCworkersinthe
Loireregion.
II.CONFORMITY WITHARTICLE56OFTHEECSCTREATY
Thearrondissements ofSaint-Etienne andMontbrison haveatotal
populationof581/225andaworkingwageearningpopulationof189,685.
>
•amtmm•
ionciaddress:RuedelaLoi200,B-1040Brussels-Téléphoné350040-358040-Télégraphieoddress:..COMtURBrussc-ls »-
Telex:«COMEURBRU 21877.

Overthelasttwoyearsthejobsituation hasdeveloped asfollows
Penod Jobrequests JobsonofferI
notsatisfied unfilled
January1977 14,359 502
March1977 14,227 639
November 1977 16,507 657
January1978 15,431 561
March1978 15,725' 754
November 1978 18,873 460
January1979 19,236 414
March1979 18,689 540
4
ThedepartmentoftheLoirehas,takenasawhole,ifoneexcludesthe ■>
Ardeche,adepartmentwithlittleindustrialisation ,thehighestlevelof
unemployment intheregion:8.8%comparedwith4.9%intheRhone
department and6.1%intheIseredepartment.
Thg^economyoftheStephanoisbasinhasknowndominanceforalongtime
ofcoalminingandheavyindustry.
Thecoalmineshaveensuredtheprosperityofthisregionbuttheexhaustion
oftheooalseamsanddifficulties ofexploitation haveledtotheclosure
ofthebasinbeingcontemplated anddismantling ofinstallation ;thisshould
takeplacein1980. '
Problemsraisedbyconversionoftheindustryaremeasuredbythenumberof
workersconcerned.In1954,17,900wageearnerswereemployedintheindustry
atpresenttherearelessthan900. t
Theeasewithwhichthefirstphaseofconversion wasachieved,thankstothe
favourable economicsituation,concealedtherealproblemoftheStephanois
basinwheretheindustrialfabrichasremainedstatic;ifitistosurvive
itmustbereformedandaboveallrestructured .
Thepresenceofcoalassistedthebirthfollowed'bygrowthofa'nImportant
steelindustry.In1880,thedepartmentcontained 30%ofnationaloutputof
steel;however,sincethenitwouldappearthatthetrendo^Stephanoissteel
hasalwaysbeenmarginaltothenationaltrend.Inthiswayelectro-plated
steelhasbeen80%ofLoireoutputwhilerepresenting only14%ofnational
output,whilestainlesssteelalonewas70%. ,

-3-
Personsemployedinsteelin1975weresome9,700,mainlyemployedby
Creusot-Loire initsfactoriesatChateauneuf,FirminySaint-Etienne ;
theFuransteelworksandtheFeurselectro-plated steelworks.Since
1962,thebranchhaslost20%ofitswageearningworkforce.
SteelproblemshavenotfailedtoimpactonfactoriesintheStephanois
basin.TheCreusot-Loire Marrel-factoryemploying1,465hasbeenobliged
tolayoff728.TheFuransteelworkshaveannouncedtheirclosurewhich
willleadto240redundancies .
Inthiscontextitseemscertainthathandicraftiscurrentlythemost
rewardingsectorforjobsintheregion.
TheBanquePopulairedelaLoireisaregionalbankwitha-co-operative
statute,createdbytheLawof1917,whichlegalisedBanquespopulaires
(co-operative banks).ItiscontrolledbytheChamberofOrganisation of
CooperativeBanksandworksforthebenefitofhandicrafts,traders,small.
andmediumsizeconcernsandselfemployedpersons.
TheBankhas17agenciesdistributedthroughoutthedepartment.
TheregisteredcapitaloftheBanquePopulairedelaLoireisheldby3,600
ofitscustomersandat31.3.1979wasFF8,400,000.
Thelastthreereportsofannualgeneralmeetingsfor1975,1976,1977show
thatnearlytwo-thirdsofissuedcreditshavegonetosmallconcernsand
tohandicraftbusiness.TheBanquePopulairedelaLoireisauthorisedto
issuetohandicrafts FDESloansatreducedratesofinterestandStateloans
eligibleforrebate.TheBankalsocollaborates withtheCaisseCentrale
HotelierCommercialetIndustriel (GroupedesBanquesPopulaires)onthe
issueofloanstosmallandmediumsizeconcerns.
Lastly,the"BankhascreatedaHandicraftmutualguaranteecompanytSociete
deCautionMutuelleArtisanale (SOCAMA-Loire))andhastakenpartin
creatingaregionalS.C.M.(S0CAPIRA)forloanstosmallandmediumsizeconcerns.
TheBank'sentryintothesmallbusinessmarket(15%)initsareaandinto
thehandicraftmarket(30to35%)isimportantandanindicationofits
role.
III.THEPROJECT
TheBanquePopulairedelaLoirewishestoseeplacedatitsdisposal
agloballoanofFrenchfrancs20,000,000tobeusedin1979inthe'form
ofcreditstoindustrial,commercialorhandicraftconcernspreparedto
createjobs.Thesejobswouldbeofferedbywayofpriorityto>former
coalandsteelworkers.
■•imm

-4-
TheLoanwouldbeusedaccordingtoconditionslaiddownintheECSC
Treatywithregardtointerestratesandrebate,lifeoftheloan,the
volumeandtheinsuredproportionoftheinvestment.
*IV.INFLUENCEOFTHELOANONTHERE-EMPLOYMENT OFWORKERS
Itisplannedthatindividualprojectsbenefitting fromaidwillcreate
200newjobsminimumintendedforformerECSCworkers.Itisimportant
toencourageinvestmentsoutsideECSCsectorsintheLoireinparticular
throughsmallandmediumsizeconcerns.Shouldthepresentdecisionprove
inadequate,furtherinstalments couldbeenvisaged.
V.CONCLUSIONS
(a)TheCommissionconsidersthattherequestcomplieswithArticle56£2a)
oftheECSCTreaty.Inconsequence,ithasauthorisedthegrantto
theBanquePopulairedelaLoireofagloballoanofFF'20million
(+3.43millionEUA)orequivalent amount.Interestrebateof
103,000EUAwillbegrantedforthefirstfiveyearsfollowing
payment/paymentsoftheloan.
(b)TheCommissioninvitestheCounciltoagreewiththisdecisionand
withitsextensionbyanidenticalamountifnecessaryinthenear
future.