Brussels, 14/04/2015 (Agence Europe) - Member states' investment banks participating in the Juncker Plan want greater clarity about how public guarantees will be viewed under EU state aid rules, and will be writing to the president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, in this connection.
The Commission vice-president responsible for this area, Jyrki Katainen, said that the state aid procedures, that the banks (including French bank Caisse des Dépôts, see EUROPE 11271) feel are too vague, will be simplified. The Commission says that the timeline is clear, with a report from the Commission competition department to be published before the draft regulation to establish the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) is adopted, hopefully in June.
“Were these guarantees considered as illegal state aid, we can forget about the Juncker plan,” warned Franco Bassanini, head of Italian bank Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, according to Reuters, adding: “The banks fear that with state guarantees priced at market levels and subject to strict state aid rules, risks for private investors will be too high, reducing the appetite for investments.”
A Commission spokesperson said on Tuesday that member states had not contested the fact that the EFSI operations need to comply with state aid rules. (Elodie Lamer)