Brussels, 28/06/2001 (Agence Europe) - The European Investment Bank has "substantially stepped up its support for the development of a strong small and medium size enterprises sector (SMEs) in the EU Accession Countries of Central Europe", writes the EIB in a press release dated Wednesday. It notes that, over the past few months, it has signed several new global loans (credit lines) for a total amount of EUR 215 million with selected partner institutions in Bulgaria (10 million), Czech Republic (25 million), Hungary (40 million), Poland (120 million) and Romania (20 million).