Brussels, 09/11/2012 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 8 November an agreement was made between Belgium and France on recapitalising the Dexia Group for €5.5 billion in order to avoid the Group's short term liquidation. Belgium and France will thus each pay €2.9 billion at a time when the two countries are trying to reduce their respective debts and are confronted with serious budgetary difficulties. The Belgian minister for economic affairs nevertheless gave assurances that the Belgian contribution would not affect the 2013 budget, but only the debt. This aid is agreed in exchange for preference shares with voting rights, which means that any profit generated by the Group will return to the states. This is the third capital injection in four years, which has been necessary because of losses which totalled around €2.4 billion in the first nine months of 2012. It may be that further operations of this type will be needed in the future. Belgium and France have no choice, however, having agreed with Luxembourg on public guarantees to the Group for a total of €90 billion which have been brought down to €85 billion after this agreement. The agreement also changes the division of guarantees in Belgium's favour, with its share being brought down from 60.5% to 51.4%, while that of France changes from 36.5% to 45.59%, with that of Luxembourg remaining at 3%. This increase in capital will have to be approved by the European Commission, which has not yet made any comment as it is awaiting notification of the operation. (FG/transl.fl)