Brussels, 07/03/2001 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday, the European Commission adopted a proposal for a regulation that alters the medium-term financial assistance mechanism granted by the European Union to Member States having difficulties in their balance of payments on current or capital account (amendment to Regulation 1969/88). In the context of enlargement and the introduction of the single currency, the Council confirmed in December the need to conserve this mechanism, while proposing guidelines to amend it. A Commission report of November 1999 had already gone along those lines. The new regulation would, essentially, introduce the following changes: - limit the mechanism to Member States not having adopted the euro; - resort exclusively to the financial markets to finance loans, whereas the current system provides for the possibility of calling on Member States; - reduce the ceiling of loans from 16 to 12 billion euro, following the fall in the number of Member States benefiting from the mechanism.
In a press release, the Commission declares that the new regulation would be "an appropriate financial instrument at the disposal of new Member States that join the Community, as long as they have not adopted the euro".