In a report to the Council published on 30 August, the European Commission concludes that the EU's medium-term financial support mechanism for the balances of payments of the member states (the 'BOP' instrument) is a tool that has proven its worth.
It finds that the member states that have used the instrument since 2012 (Romania, Hungary and Latvia) have been able to return to accessing financing from the markets after seeing their balances of payments improve. The Commission also considers that the current upper limit of the BOP instrument, which has been set at €50 billion, appears appropriate, given that just €4.4 billion has been used since 2012 and that no further applications have so far been made.
However, the institution is sticking by its proposal of 22 June 2012 aiming to replace and improve the mechanism currently in place, in view of institutional innovations that have taken place since the instrument was last revised, mainly regarding the eurozone. In its proposal, the Commission suggested creating a range of more flexible credit tools and also called for greater transparency and supervision of states.
The instrument was created in 2002 to provide medium-term financial support to non-eurozone member states with a balance of payments presenting difficulties or at risk of so doing. The measure takes the form of an EU loan or credit line. (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)