2005/48/EC: Council Decision of 22 December 2004 granting a Community guarantee to the European Investment Bank against losses under loans for certain types of projects in Russia, Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus
Date: 2004-12-22
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: Belarus, EIB loan, European Investment Bank, Moldova, Russia, Ukraine, credit guarantee, environmental policy, trans-European network

25.1.2005

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 21/11

COUNCIL DECISION

of 22 December 2004

granting a Community guarantee to the European Investment Bank against losses under loans for
certain types of projects in Russia, Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus

(2005/48/EC)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

(6)

Having regard to the Treaty
Community, and in particular Article 181A thereof,

establishing the European

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament (1),

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

the Council wishes

to make
the European Investment Bank (EIB)

In support of the European Union’s European Neigh-
it
bourhood Policy,
possible for
to
grant loans for certain types of projects in Russia and
in the Western New Independent States (‘WNIS’), namely
Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine.

In support of the Northern Dimension initiative launched
by the Helsinki Council of December 1999, Council
Decision 2001/777/EC of 6 November 2001 granting a
Community guarantee to the European Investment Bank
against losses under a special lending action for selected
environmental projects in the Baltic Sea basin of Russia
under the Northern Dimension (2), was adopted.

The EIB lending under Decision 2001/777/EC is now
approaching its ceiling.

In its conclusions, the Ecofin Council of 25 November
2003 agreed to an additional allocation for lending to
Russia and the WNIS by the EIB, as a further devel-
opment of Decision 2001/777/EC for projects in areas
in which the EIB has a comparative advantage and where
there is unmet credit demand. The areas in which the EIB
is considered to have a ‘comparative advantage’ are:
environment as well as transport,
telecommunications
and energy infrastructure on priority Trans-European
network (‘TEN’) axes having cross-border implications
for a Member State.

agreements on political

The lending mandate should be subject, on the one hand,
to appropriate conditionality consistent with EU high-
level
and macro-economic
aspects, and with other international financial institutions
on sectoral and project aspects, and on the other, to
appropriate work-sharing between the EIB and the
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
(EBRD).

EIB financing should be managed in accordance with the
EIB’s usual criteria and procedures, including appropriate
control measures, as well as with the relevant rules and
procedures concerning the Court of Auditors and OLAF,
in such a way as to support Community policies. There
should be regular consultation between the EIB and the
Commission to ensure coordination of priorities and
activities in the countries in question and to measure
the Community’s
progress towards the fulfilment of
relevant policy objectives.

(7)

This decision will be
in the
framework of the full assessment in December 2006 of
EIB’s general
lending mandate for projects outside the
European Union,

taken into account

HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:

Article 1

Objective

the European Investment Bank
The Community shall grant
(hereinafter referred to as ‘the EIB’) a guarantee in respect of
all payments not received by it but due in respect of credits
opened, in accordance with its usual criteria and in support of
the Community’s
for
investment projects carried out in Russia and in the Western
New Independent States, namely Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine.

external policy objectives,

relevant

Article 2

Eligible projects

Eligible projects of significant interest to the European Union
shall be in the following sectors:

— environment;

— transport, telecommunications and energy infrastructure on
priority Trans-European network (TEN) axes having cross-
border implications for a Member State.

Article 3

Ceiling and conditions

The overall ceiling of the credits opened shall be EUR 500

1.
million.

(1) Opinion delivered on 14 December 2004 (not yet published in the

Official Journal).

(2) OJ L 292, 9.11.2001, p. 41.

2.
The EIB shall benefit from an exceptional Community
guarantee of 100 %, which shall cover the total amount of
the credits opened under this Decision and all related sums.

L 21/12

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

25.1.2005

Projects financed by loans to be covered by the guarantee

3.
shall satisfy the following criteria:

between the international financial institutions involved in the
projects.

(a) eligibility in accordance with Article 2;

(b) cooperation, and where appropriate co-financing, by the EIB
institutions in order to
reasonable risk-sharing and appropriate project

with other international financial
ensure
conditionality.

The EIB shall share the work appropriately with the EBRD,
report
according to mutually agreed modalities, and shall
accordingly in accordance with Article 5.
the
EIB shall take advantage of the experience of the EBRD in
Russia and the WNIS.

In particular,

Article 4

Eligibility of individual countries

Individual countries shall become eligible under the ceiling as
and when they fulfil appropriate conditionality consistent with
European Union high level agreements with the country in
question on political
aspects. The
Commission shall determine when an individual country has
fulfilled the appropriate conditionality and shall notify the EIB
thereof.

and macro-economic

Article 5

Reporting

That information shall
include an assessment of the contri-
bution of the lending under this Decision to the fulfilment of
the Community’s relevant external policy objectives.

For the purposes of the first and second paragraphs, the EIB
shall transmit to the Commission the appropriate information.

Article 6

Duration

The guarantee shall cover loans signed until 31 January 2007.

If, on expiry of this period, the loans granted by the EIB have
not attained the overall ceiling referred to in Article 3(1), the
period shall be automatically extended by six months.

Article 7

Final provisions

1.

This Decision shall take effect on the date of its adoption.

The EIB and the Commission shall establish the terms on

2.
which the guarantee is to be given.

Done at Brussels, 22 December 2004.

The Commission shall inform the European Parliament and the
Council each year of the loan operations carried out under this
Decision and shall, at the same time, submit an assessment of
this Decision and of coordination
the implementation of

For the Council
The President

C. VEERMAN