REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL ON BORROWING AND LENDING ACTIVITIES OF THE EUROPEAN UNION IN 2009
Date: 2010-12-06
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: Community loan, EU borrowing, European Union, balance of payments, credit guarantee, financial aid, report, third country

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EUROPEAN COMMISSION 

Brussels, 6.12.2010 
COM(2010) 709 final 

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION 
TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL 

ON BORROWING AND LENDING ACTIVITIES 
OF THE EUROPEAN UNION IN 2009 

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TABLE OF CONTENTS 

1. 

2. 

2.1. 

2.2. 

Introduction .................................................................................................................. 3 

Lending activities of the European Union ................................................................... 3 

Overview ...................................................................................................................... 3 

BOP facility.................................................................................................................. 4 

2.2.1.  Main characteristics of the BOP facility ...................................................................... 5 

2.2.2.  BoP operations decided and disbursed in 2009............................................................ 5 

2.2.3.  EU response to the euro area sovereign debt crisis...................................................... 6 

2.3. 

MFA facility................................................................................................................. 6 

2.3.1.  Main charateristics of MFA ......................................................................................... 6 

2.3.2.  MFA operations decided and disbursed in 2009.......................................................... 7 

2.3.3. 

Impact of the financial crisis on MFA ......................................................................... 8 

2.4. 

Euratom facility............................................................................................................ 9 

2.4.1.  Main characteristic ....................................................................................................... 9 

2.4.2.  Operation disbursed ..................................................................................................... 9 

3. 

3.1. 

3.2. 

3.3. 

3.4. 

4. 

4.1. 

4.2. 

Borrowing activities of the European Union ............................................................... 9 

Description ................................................................................................................... 9 

BOP .............................................................................................................................. 9 

MFA ........................................................................................................................... 10 

Euratom ...................................................................................................................... 10 

European Investment Bank ........................................................................................ 11 

EIB lending activities................................................................................................. 11 

EIB borrowing activities ............................................................................................ 11 

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1. 

INTRODUCTION 

The  Council  decisions  establishing  the  various  lending  instruments  of  the  European  Union 
require the Commission to inform the European Parliament and the Council, each year, of the 
use  of  these  instruments.  In  order  to  meet  these  information  requirements,  this  report 
describes the lending operations for each of the areas concerned. 

In particular, this report gives a brief presentation of lending and borrowing activities under 
the  balance-of-payment  support  to  non-euro  area  Member  States  (BOP)1  and  the  macro-
financial assistance provided by the European Union to third countries (MFA). In addition, it 
provides information on Euratom lending and borrowing activities. 

To  complete  the  picture  of  EU  activities,  the  final  section  provides a  summary  overview  of 
European Investment Bank (EIB) lending and borrowing activities in 2009. 

2. 

LENDING ACTIVITIES OF THE EUROPEAN UNION 

2.1. 

Overview 

Financial support for non-member States and for non-euro area Member States is provided by 
the Commission under different legal bases, depending on the geographical areas concerned 
and the objectives pursued. 

Financial  operations  administered  by  the  Commission  under  various  Council  decisions 
generally  take  the  form  of  bilateral  loans  (macro-financial  support  to  non-member  States 
(MFA)  or  balance-of-payments  support  to  non-euro  area  Member  States  (BOP)),  where  the 
European  Union  helps  to  re-establish  a  country’s  macro-economic  balance.  The  Euratom 
lending  instrument  is  available  for  financing  operations  in  Member  States  and  certain  non-
member States (Armenia, Russia and Ukraine). 

Each MFA, BOP or Euratom loan disbursement is based on a back-to-back operation. In other 
words, the amounts due (interest and/or principal), currency and payment dates of the loans 
match  the  amounts  due,  the  currency  and  payment  dates  of  the  underlying  borrowing 
transaction. 

1 

Council Regulation (EC) No 407/2010 of 11 May 2010 established a similar mechanism with the full 
support of the EU budget, the European financial stabilisation mechanism (EFSM), to support euro area 
Member States. As of 1st October 2010 the mechanism has not been activated. 

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Table 1: Loan disbursements for macro-financial assistance*, Euratom to non-member States, 
and Balance of Payments loans to non-euro area Member States 

2002 

2003 

2004 

2005 

2006 

2007 

2008 

2009  Total 

EUR million 

Romania(MS as of 
01.01.2007) 

Albania 

Bosnia 
Herzegovina 

and 

fYRoM 

12 

Serbia 
Montenegro 

and 

Lebanon 

50 

28 

40 

10 

9 

10 

15 

Sub total MFA 

Euratom(1) 

12 

40 

118 

25 

10 

65 

15 

215 

19 

51 

Hungary 

Latvia 

Romania 

Sub-total 
BOP(2) 

50

9

20

40

55

25

199

25 

25 

39

16 

7 

458

2 000  3 500  5 500

  2 200  2 200

  1 500  1 500

2 000  7 200  9 200

Grand Total 

52 

143 

75 

230 

70 

39

2 016  7 232  9 857

(1) Including Bulgaria and Romania (Member States as of 01.01.2007) 
(2) On 2 December 2008 the ceiling for the maximum amount of loans granted to non-euro area Member States under the 
BOP facility was increased from EUR 12 billion to EUR 25 billion. On 18 May 2009 the limit was increased to 
EUR 50 billion. 
* Regarding the grants, a total amount of EUR 417 million was disbursed during the period (2002-2009) of which EUR 15.3 
million in 2009 (further information on Macro-financial assistance can be found in the report from the Commission to the 
Council and the European Parliament on the implementation of macro-financial assistance to third countries in 2009). 

2.2. 

BOP facility 

The financial and economic crisis took a heavy toll on economic activity in Europe and the 
world  at  large.  Despite  unprecedented  fiscal  and  monetary  measures  taken  by  governments 
and central banks to support financial markets, short-term and long-term financing conditions 
remained difficult during the year 2009. In 2008, the Balance-of-Payments (BOP) facility was 
reactivated  to  help  non-euro  Member  States  overcome  balance  of  payments  difficulties 
resulting  from  the  financial  crisis.  In  2009,  the  lending  acitvity  under  the  BoP  facility 
increased  as  the  financial  crisis  continued  to  affect  non-euro  area  Member  States  in  their 
financing activities. 

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2.2.1.  Main characteristics of the BOP facility 

BOP  assistance  takes  the  form  of  medium-term  loans  provided  by  the  Commission  and  is 
generally provided in conjunction with financing provided by the IMF and other multilateral 
lenders,  such  the  EIB,  the  EBRD  or  the  World  Bank,  or  bilateral  assistance  from  Member 
States. The facility is exceptional in nature and is mobilised on a case-by-case basis. Potential 
beneficiaries are the Member States outside the euro area2 being faced with serious balance-of-
payments  difficulties.  The  assistance  is  of  a  macro-economic  nature  (i.e.  not  linked  to  a 
specific  use  of  the  funds  as  in  the  case  of  project  assistance).  It  is  released  subject  to  the 
fulfilment of economic policy conditions and is aimed at easing the recipient Member States’ 
global  external  financing  constraints  and  restoring  the  viability  of  the  balance  of  payments. 
Such  policy  conditions  are  agreed  by  the  Commission  following  consultation  with  the 
Economic  and  Financial  Committee  (EFC)  and  the  Member  State  in  a  memorandum  of 
understanding  signed  prior  to  the  implementation  of  the  loan  agreements.  The  assistance 
underpins the implementation of adjustment measures designed to remedy these difficulties. 
The verification of such measures  is a  condition  for the  disbursement of further instalments 
under these loans. 

Created in 19753, several operations aimed at supporting the balance of payments of Member 
States  under  particular  financial  threats  or  difficulties  were  carried  out  by  the  Community 
under  the  Balance  of  Payments  facility  over  the  following  twenty  years.  These  operations 
consisted of loans funded by Community borrowings. 

The increased number of eligible Member States following enlargement4 and the intensity of 
the international financial crisis called for the BOP facility to be activated again and increased 
in December 20085 from EUR 12 billion to EUR 25 billion in order to respond to the potential 
needs. Another increase to EUR 50 billion of the borrowing ceiling was decided in May 20096 
in order to continue being able to react quickly to any further demand for BOP assistance. 

2.2.2.  BoP operations decided and disbursed in 2009 

In 2009, the Council decided to support two additional countries under the BOP facility: 

–  Latvia with a loan of up to EUR 3.1 billion (Council Decision 2009/290/EC of 20 January 

2009), and 

–  Romania  with  a  loan  of  up  to  EUR 5 billion  (Council  Decision  2009/459/EC  of  6  May 

2009). 

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On  1  October  2009,  the  following  Member  States  had  not  adopted  the  euro:  Bulgaria,  the  Czech 
Republic,  Denmark,  Estonia,  Hungary,  Latvia,  Lithuania,  Poland,  Romania,  Sweden  and  the  United 
Kingdom. 
Council Regulation (EEC) No 397/75 of 17 February 1975 establishing a new mechanism known as the 
Community  Loan  Mechanism  (CLM)  to  help  some  EC  countries  overcome  unsustainable  current 
account imbalances caused by the first oil shock. 
After introduction of the Euro, only non-Euro Member States continued to stay eligible for Balance of 
Payments assistance. 
Council Regulation (EC) No 1360/2008 of 2 December 2008 amending Regulation (EC) No 332/2002 
establishing  a  facility  providing  medium-term  financial  assistance  to  Member  States’  balances  of 
payments. 
Council  Regulation  (EC)  No  431/2009  of  18  May  2009  amending  Regulation  (EC)  No  332/2002 
establishing  a  facility  providing  medium-term  financial  assistance  to  Member  States’  balances  of 
payments. 

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BOP  was  a  substantial  part  of  EU  lending  activity  in  terms  of  volume  of  disbursements  in 
2009. A total amount of EUR 7.2 billion was disbursed over several tranches. 

Table 2: list of loan operations disbursed under BoP facility in 2009 

Country 

Decision 

Tranche 

Date 

Hungary7 

2009/102/EC  

Latvia 

2009/290/EC 

Romania 

2009/459/EC 

2nd 

3rd  

1st 

2nd 

1st 

26/03/2009 

6/07/2009 

25/02/2009 

27/07/2009 

27/07/2009 

Amount  in  EUR 
million 

 2 000

1 500

1 000

1 200

1 500

2.2.3. 

 EU response to the euro area sovereign debt crisis 

In the wake of the crisis in Greece, the Council and the Member States have decided in May 
2010 a package of measures to preserve financial stability in Europe. 

One  of  these  measures  is  the  creation  of  a  European  Financial  Stabilisation  Mechanism 
(EFSM). The mechanism is based on Art. 122.28 of the Treaty with the full backing of the EU 
budget.  Its  activation  is  subject  to  strong  conditionality,  in  the  context  of  a  joint  EU/IMF 
support; terms and conditions will be similar to those of the IMF. As of 1st October 2010 the 
mechanism has not been activated 

Two other measures have been decided in parallel with the EFSM  

-  the  financial  support  to  Greece  consisting  of  pooled  bilateral  loans  provided  by  euro  area 
Member States for a total amount of EUR 80 billion. EUR 30 billion are provided by the IMF 
in the context of a joint EU/IMF support amounting to EUR 110 billion in total. 

-  the  European  Financial  Stability  Facility  (EFSF)  was  set  up  with  a  capacity  of  EUR  440 
billion. It is guaranteed on a pro rata basis by participating Member States. 

2.3.  MFA facility 

Detailed information on MFA operations can be found in the annual Commission Report to 
the Council and the European Parliament on the implementation of MFA to third countries9.  

2.3.1.  Main charateristics of MFA 

Macro-financial assistance (MFA) in the form of loans and/or grants supports the political and 
economic reform efforts of the beneficiary countries and is implemented in association with 

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9 

On 9/12/2008 there was a first instalment of EUR 2 000 million in favour to Hungary. 
Art.  122.2  of  the  Treaty  foresees  financial  support  for  Member  States  in  difficulties  caused  by 
exceptional circumstances beyond Member States' control. 
Not yet published for 2009. For 2008, see COM/2009/514, SEC/2009/1279. 

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the  Bretton  Woods  institutions  (IMF  and  World  Bank).  Key  features  of  the  MFA  are:  the 
exceptional  character  of  this  assistance,  the  fact  that  it  complements  financing  from  the 
International  Financial  Institutions  (IFIs),  and  macroeconomic  conditionality.  In  close 
coordination  with  the  International  Monetary  Fund  (IMF)  and  the  World  Bank,  the  EU, 
tailored  to  the  needs  of  a  specific  country,  has  supported  several  third  countries  with  the 
overall  objective  of  stabilising  the  financial  situation  and  establishing  market-oriented 
economies. 

The MFA loans are generally disbursed in several instalments, as and when macroeconomic 
conditionality milestones are met. Each disbursement is subject to a borrowing transaction by 
the  Commission.  Should  a  situation  of  default  arise  as  a  result  of  failure  by  the  beneficiary 
country  to  honour  its  repayment  obligations,  the  Commission  may  activate  the  Guarantee 
Fund  for  External  Actions10  so  that  the  repayment  of  the  corresponding  borrowing  by  the 
Commission is secured. 

Loans disbursed under this instrument since 2002 are listed in Table 1 above. 

2.3.2.  MFA operations decided and disbursed in 2009 

The  key  MFA  activities  in  2009  relate  to  negotiations  with  the  relevant  authorities  and 
focused on the following: 

•  The  terms  of  the  assistance  to  Lebanon  (Memorandum  of  Understanding  and  Loan 

Agreement signed on 18 and 19 December 2008 respectively).  

The MFA programme with Lebanon consists of a grant of EUR 30 million and a loan of EUR 
50 million, both to be disbursed in two instalments. The disbursement of the first tranche of 
the loan (EUR 25 million) was made in early June 2009. In December 2009, the Commission 
extended  the  availability  period  of  the  second  tranche  of  the  assistance  programme,  which 
will now expire on 21 December 2010. Disbursement of the second tranche is subject to the 
fulfilment of the conditionalities included on the Memorandum of Understanding agreed with 
national authorities. 

•  The implementation of the split between Serbia and Montenegro of the MFA loans granted 

in favour of the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.  

The separation of EU claims relating to Montenegro from those on Serbia was the outcome of 
the  independence  of  Montenegro  in  June  2006  and  of  an  agreement  between  Serbia  and 
Montenegro in July 2006 to allocate external liabilities among the two separate states. It did 
not create any new obligations for the EU and has no budgetary implications. A separate loan 
agreement was signed with Montenegro in 2009 and entered into force on 4 February 2010. It 
implements  Council  Decision  2008/784/EC11,  under  which  part  of  the  liabilities  granted  by 
the  EU  to  the  State  Union  of  Serbia  and  Montenegro  -  formerly  the  Federal  Republic  of 
Yugoslavia – were allocated to Montenegro reducing as a consequence the liability of Serbia .  

10 
11 

See Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 480/2009. 
OJ L 269, 10.10.2008, p. 8. 

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On 30 November 200912, the Council of the European Union decided the following three new 
MFA operations: 

•  Armenia (Council Decision 2009/890/EC) consisting of a grant of EUR 35 million and a 
loan facility of up to EUR 65 million. The EU MFA will complement support from other 
donors and is intended to help cover Armenia's financing needs in 2010 – 2011as well as to 
alleviate  the  financial  crisis  effect.  The  conditions  for  the  delivery  of  the  MFA  will 
complement  the  conditionality  of  the  IMF  programme  and  will  include  the  satisfactory 
implementation  of  that  programme,  along  with  suggested  reforms  in  the  area  of  public 
finance management, debt management, procurement policy and custom policy. 

•  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina  (Decision  2009/891/EC)  in  the  form  of  a  loan  facility  of  up  to 
EUR  100  million.  The  objective  of  this  assistance  is  to  help  the  authorities  to  address 
residual external financing and budgetary needs that emerge as a consequence of the strong 
economic  slowdown  affecting  the  country.  It  is  complementary  to  IMF  and  World  Bank 
programmes. The disbursement is planned in two tranches, which are tentatively planned 
for the third and fourth quarter 2010, subject to satisfactory compliance with conditionality 
requirements.  

•  Serbia  (Council  Decision  2009/892/EC)  macro-financial  assistance  in  the  form  of  a  loan 
facility of up to EUR 200 million. The objective of this assistance is to help the authorities 
to address residual external financing and budgetary needs that emerged in the context of 
the global crisis in the country. It is complementary to IMF and World Bank programmes. 
This assistance is expected to be released in 2011 subject to a satisfactory track record of 
conditionality requirements. In addition, and as noted above, Serbia's liabilities stemming 
from previous MFA to the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia were reduced through 
the allocation of part of them to Montenegro pursuant to Council Decision 2008/784/EC. 

There was one operation disbursed under MFA loan facility in 200913: 

–  the first instalement of EUR 25 million of loan to Lebanon. 

2.3.3. 

Impact of the financial crisis on MFA 

In  the  wake  of  the  financial  crisis,  several  neighbourhood  countries  (Ukraine,  Georgia, 
Armenia  and  Belarus)  as  well  as  other  third  countries  (Iceland,  Kyrgyz  Republic  and 
Tajikistan) requested MFA support in order to alleviate pressure on foreign exchange reserves 
and to contribute to economic stability and reform. 

The Commission adopted in October 2009 a proposal for a MFA loan of EUR 500 million for 
Ukraine (to be added to the EUR 110 million decision adopted in 2002 and which has not yet 
been disbursed due to the absence of a working arrangement with the IMF). The proposal for 
Ukraine was adopted by the Council on 29 June 2010 and voted by the Parliament on 7 July 
2010  in  the  ordinary  legislative  procedure  on  the  basis  of  Article  212  of  the  Treaty  on  the 
functioning of the European Union (TFEU). 

12 

13 

In addition the Council Decision 2009/890/EC decided to provide a MFA to Georgia for an amount of 
EUR 46 million in Grants.  
The first instalement of EUR 15.3 million of grant to Georgia was disbursed in 2009. 

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2.4. 

Euratom facility 

2.4.1.  Main characteristic 

The  Euratom  loan  facility  may  be  used  to  finance  projects  within  Member  States  (Council 
Decision 77/270/Euratom) or in certain third countries (Ukraine, Russia or Armenia) (Council 
Decision  94/179/Euratom).  These  loans  are  off-budget  operations  that  the  Commission 
finances  back  to  back  by  borrowing  from  the financial  market.  In  1990  the  Council  fixed  a 
borrowing  limit  of  EUR 4 billion,  of  which  some  EUR 3.4 billion  have  been  decided  and 
disbursed.  In  2002  the  Commission  proposed  an  increase  in  the  borrowing  limit  from 
EUR 4 billion to EUR 6 billion, for which agreement has not yet been reached at the Council. 

2.4.2.  Operation disbursed 

Euratom activities in 2009 focused on the lending and borrowing operation of the third (and 
last)  tranche  of  USD 10.3 million14  under  the  loan  agreement  for  the  K2R415  project  in 
Ukraine. 

3. 

BORROWING ACTIVITIES OF THE EUROPEAN UNION 

3.1. 

Description 

In  order  to  finance  the  lending  activities  decided  by  the  Council,  the  Commission  is 
empowered  to  borrow  funds  on  the  capital  market  on  behalf  both  the  European  Union 
Euratom.  For  each  instrument  (BOP,  MFA  and  Euratom  loans)  the  borrowing  and  lending 
mechanism operation is determined in its respective legal base. There is a ‘back-to-back’ link 
between a borrowing operation and the related lending operation, which ensures that the EU 
budget does not take of any interest rate or foreign exchange risk. Outstanding borrowings are 
matched by outstanding loans. 

3.2. 

BOP 

Bond issuances succeeded in confirming the EU as a major issuer to the euro benchmark bond 
market. The bonds were very well received in the market. As investor interest remained very 
strong,  the  bonds  were  always  quickly  oversubscribed.  All  important  investor  classes  were 
represented  in  the  final  distributions,  including  central  banks,  investment  funds,  bank 
treasuries and insurance companies. The bond prices were close to the best in their reference 
group,  the  Sovereign  Supranational  Agency  Sector  (SSA),  in  line  with  issuers  such  as 
European  Investment  Bank  (EIB),  "Kreditanstalt  für  Wiederaufbau"  (KFW)  and  "société  de 
financement de l'économie française" (SFEF). 

The secondary market performance was also very satisfactory and confirmed the EU’s strong 
standing  as  a  first  class  benchmark  bond  issuer.  This  good  standing  was  reinforced  with 
subsequent benchmark bonds issued in July 2010. 

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15 

The last tranche was disbursed in October 2009. 
On  29  September  2004  the  Commission  approved  a  loan  for  a  total  amount  in  EUR  equivalent  to 
USD 83 million  for  the  safety  upgrade  of  the  nuclear  power  units  known  as  Khmelnitsky  Unit  2  and 
Rovno Unit 4 (K2R4) in Ukraine.  

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Table 3: EU bond issued during 200916  

Country 

Description 

Issue date 

Maturity 
Date 

Size 
(EUR) 

Coupon 

EEC 3.25 2014

25/02/2009

3/04/2014

1.0 bn 

3.125%

EEC 3.25 2014

26/03/2009

7/11/2014

2.0 bn 

3.25%

EEC 3.625 2016

06/07/2009

6/04/2016

1.5 bn 

3.625%

EEC 3.125 2015 

27/07/2009

27/01/2015

2.7 bn 

3.125%

Latvia 

Hungary 

Hungary 

Latvia + 
Romania 

3.3.  MFA 

In 2009 there was only one borrowing for an amount of EUR 25 million in connection with 
the lending operation to Lebanon under macro-financial assistance. 

3.4. 

Euratom 

In  2009,  an  amount  of  USD 10.335 million  (EUR  7.104  million  equivalent)  was  raised  for 
Euratom on a back-to-back basis for the funding of the K2R4 project in Ukraine. 

Table 4: Volume of borrowing operations by financial instrument from 2002 to 200917 (EUR 
million) 

MFA 

Euratom 

BOP 

Total 

2002 

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007 

2008 

2009

12 

40 

118

25

10

65

15

215

19

51

39 

16 

25

7

52 

143

75

230

70

39 

2 016 

7 232

2 000 

7 200

16 

17 

http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/financial_operations/market/borrowing/benchmark_issues_2011-
14_en.htm 
http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/financial_operations/market/borrowing/benchmark_issues_2015-
16_en.htm 
More information on the EC bonds can be found at 
http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/financial_operation_instruments/market_operations59_en.htm. 

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Table 5: Total borrowing of the European Union — outstanding amounts of capital at the end 
of each year over the period 2002-2009(1) (EUR million) 

ECSC i.l.(1) 
(2) 

Euratom (1) 

BOP 

MFA 

Total European Union

2002 

2003 

2004 

2005 

2006 

2007 

2008 

2009 

713

431

423

440

436

400

266

214

80

105

170

385

436

474

484 

481

2 000

9 200

1 379

1 372

1 214

1 080

969

786

654

584

2 172

1 908

1 807

1 905

1 841

1 260

3 404

10 479

(1)The conversion rates used are those of 31 December of each year. 

(2)The European Coal & Steel Community is in liquidation since 2002. The last bond issued by ECSC matures in 2019.  

4. 

EUROPEAN INVESTMENT BANK  

4.1. 

EIB lending activities 

Loans granted by the EIB from its own resources are either in the form of direct financing for 
individual  projects  or  global  loans  to  financial  intermediaries,  which  then  allocate  funds  to 
smaller-scale local projects. In 2009, the total volume of EIB signed operations increased by 
37 % to EUR 79.3 billion, of which an amount of EUR 70.5 billion was signed with Member 
States and EUR 8.8 billion with partner countries. 

EIB lending activities have an impact on the EU budget when they are accompanied by EU 
guarantees, interest rate subsidies or other EU/EIB risk-sharing provisions. In particular, some 
EIB loans outside the EU benefit from an EU budget guarantee. A detailed report on the 2009 
EIB  external  lending  activity  was  issued  by  the  Commission  on  21  April  2010  in  the 
framework of the mid-term review of the EIB external mandate18. At the same time, the EIB 
manages risk sharing facilities involving the use of the EU budget to support intra-EU policies 
(e.g.  Risk  Sharing  Finance  Facility  for  research  and  development  projects  and  Loan 
Guarantee for TEN-Transport projects)19. 

4.2. 

EIB borrowing activities 

The  global  financial  crisis  changed  the  market  conditions.  Although  markets  regained  a 
moderate  amount  of  confidence  during  the  second  semester  2009,  market  uncertainty 
remained elevated throughout the year, making issuance challenging, particularly for issuance 
of  large  size  transactions  and  in  longer  maturities.  Government  rescue  plans  led  to  massive 

18 
19 

COM (2010) 173 
The  Commission  reported  to  the  Council  and  Parliament  on  the  implementation  in  2009  of  new 
financial instruments financed by the EU budget in the framework of the annual budgetary exercise, in 
accordance with point 49 of the Inter-institutional Agreement between the EC, the EP and the Council. 

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   EN 

 
                                                 
supply of both sovereign and government-guaranteed bonds. Investors were in a position to be 
increasingly selective.  

Despite  the  difficult  funding  environment  in  2009,  the  EIB  raised  an  amount  of  EUR  79.4 
billion  at  favourable  terms  in  line  with  its  strong  market  standing  under  the  2009  funding 
programme.  

EN 

12 

   EN