CELEX: 51993PC0332(01)
Language: en
Date: 1993-07-09
Title: Proposal for a COUNCIL DECISION on the provision of Community interest subsidies on loans for SMEs extended by the EIB under its temporary lending facility

No C 210 /20                           Official Journal of the European Communities                                  4 . 8 . 93
               Proposal for a Council Decision on the provision of Community interest subsidies on loans for
                               SMEs extended by the EIB under its temporary lending facility
                                                        (93 /C 210 / 19)
                                                      COM(93) 332 final
                                        (Submitted by the Commission on 9 July 1993)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES ,                          medium-sized ones, in the Community ('), and whereas
                                                                   this Decision has been revised by Decision
                                                                   91 /319/EEC (2);
Having regard to the Treaty instituting the European
Economic Community and in particular Article 235                   Whereas by way of its resolution of 17 June 1992 (J), the
thereof,                                                           Council has recommended the Commission to pursue the
                                                                   necessary action contributing to a favourable
                                                                   environment for the enterprises, notably the SMEs ;
Having regard to the proposal by the Commission,
                                                                  Whereas the Council adopted on 14 June 1993 Decision
Having regard to the opinion of the Parliament,                    93/. . ./EEC on a multiannual programme of
                                                                   Community measures to intensify the priority areas and
                                                                   to ensure the continuity and consolidation of policy for
Whereas the European Council in Edinburgh invited the              enterprise, in particular SMEs, in the Community;
European Investment Bank (EIB) to give urgent and
sympathetic consideration to the establishment of a new,          Whereas the facility shall be made available throughout
temporary lending facility of ECU 5 billion within the             the Community and be implemented as soon as possible ;
EIB, in order to accelerate the financing of capital infra­
structure projects notably connected with trans­
European networks (TENs), and whereas the Board of                Whereas the facility shall be used, where appropriate, in
Governors of the EIB decided to create this facility on            conjunction with other relevant Community financial
                                                                   instruments ;
10 February 1993 ;
                                                                  Whereas part of the budgetary appropriations necessary
Whereas the European Council in Copenhagen has                    for the payment of interest subsidies on additional loans,
invited the EIB to increase this facility by ECU 3 billion        extended on similar conditions as the ones covered by
and to extend its duration beyond 1994 ; whereas ECU 1            the present decision, shall be made available through the
billion of this increase will be allocated for the strength­      structural funds, for the share concerning the regions
ening of the competitiveness of European small and                eligible under such funds, which is estimated at 60 % of
medium-sized enterprises (the SME facility);                      the total volume of the loans, under the facility, and
                                                                  whereas the present decision shall provide the
                                                                  complementary cover for operations outside these
Whereas the European Council in Copenhagen also                   regions ; and whereas it would be appropriate to make
invited the Council (Ecofin) to examine how part                  available up to ECU 400 million of loans under this
available for SMEs could benefit from interest rate               facility to regions not eligible for Community structural
subsidies up to a maximum of three percentage points               assistance ;
over five years, while the interest subsidy would be
linked to employment creation (similar to existing ECSC           Whereas the EIB has indicated its willingness to
loans) and would be funded within existing financial              participate in the implementation of the present decision ;
perspectives ;
                                                                  Whereas the EIB and the Commission shall enter into a
Whereas the present action would be part of the                   cooperation agreement on the implementation of the
Community initiative to stimulate economic growth, and            facility;
whereas the European Council in Edinburgh has
recognized 'the importance of SMEs for creating                   Whereas the Treaty includes no provision other than
employment and stimulating growth';                               Article 235 for the adoption of the present decision,
Whereas the Council adopted on 28 July 1989 Decision
89/490/EEC relative to the improvement of the                     O OJ No L 239, 16. 8 . 1989, p. 33 .
environment of enterprises and to the promotion of the            O OJ No L 175, 4. 7. 1991 , p. 32.
development of enterprises, particularly small and                (3) OJ No C 178 , 15 . 7. 1992, p. 8 .
 ---pagebreak---                                       Official Journal of the European Communities                            No C 210 / 21
4 . 8 . 93
HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS :                                                                  Article 2
                                                                 The facility shall be administered by the EIB on behalf of
                         Article 1                               the Community, whilst exercising the same diligence as
                                                                 for the operations carried out with its own resources.
The Community shall provide subsidies for the purpose            The modalities concerning the implementation of the
of lowering the interest rate on EIB loans to SMEs in the        present decision shall be set out in a cooperation
Community up to a maximum of ECU 400 million in                  agreement between the Commission and the EIB.
principal. These loans shall be extended by the Bank
under the terms and conditions applying to the loans                                      Article 3
stemming from the temporary facility, which was
orginally established by the Board of Governors of the           The Commission shall inform the Council and the
Bank on 10 February 1993 and further extended by the             Parliament annually on the implementation of the
Board on ... . The benefit of these subsidies shall be           present Decision, indicating the overall utilization of the
restricted to investment projects involving the creation of      SME facility in the Community as well as the impact on
employment.                                                      the creation of employment and on the interest rates for
                                                                 the investments by SMEs covered by the facility, on the
The Community interest subsidies shall be fixed at 300           basis of the necessary information made available by the
basis points and shall be extended to the beneficiaries of       EIB. A first report shall be presented before 10
the loans for a maximum period of five years.                    December 1993 .
              Proposal for a Council Decision empowering the Commission to contract borrowings for the
                         purpose of extending loans to Member States under the bridging facility
                                                       (93 /C 210/20)
                                                     COM(93) 332 final
                                       (Submitted by the Commission on 9 July 1993)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                          the promotion of economic growth and competitiveness
                                                                  and the fight against unemployment;
 Having regard to the Treaty instituting the European
 Economic Community and in particular Article 235                 Whereas the bridging facility will contribute to accelerate
 thereof,                                                         economic and social cohesion within the Community ;
 Having regard to the proposal by the Commission,                 Whereas important resources can be mobilized from the
                                                                  capital markets for the purposes stated above ;
 Having regard to the opinion of the Parliament,
                                                                  Whereas this facility will have an economic effect going
 Whereas, in order to boost ahead of schedule the                 far beyond its nominal size ;
 investment projects under the Structural Funds, the
 European Council in Copenhagen invited the Ecofin                Whereas the implementation of the bridging facility
 Council to examine a proposal from the Commission                should not modify in any way the objectives and prin­
 that would enable Member States to draw on a                     ciples applying to the Structural Funds and the Cohesion
 Community bridging facility at market interest rates up          Fund ;
 to a maximum of ECU 5 billion available until the end of
  1995 ;                                                          Whereas the use of the bridging facility in the context of
                                                                  eligible projects under the Cohesion Fund may only be
 Whereas     the   European     Council    concluded    that      considered once this instrument has its definitive legal
 repayment of this Community loan would be drawn                  base ;
 from Structural Fund appropriations in subsequent years ;
 and that similar arrangements could be applied to the            Whereas the bridging facility shall be available to
 Cohesion Fund ;                                                   Member States on a voluntary basis ;
 Whereas this would constitute an important short-term            Whereas the Treaty includes no provision other than
 measure at the level of the Community in the context of          Article 235 for the adoption of the present decision ;