Brussels, 03/10/2006 (Agence Europe) - Responding to ideas expressed by the French minister for employment, Jean-Louis Borloo, who requested, on Tuesday, that the Commission kept out of the Livret A dossier, the spokesperson for the Commissioner for competition, highlighted the reasons for the infringement procedure launched in June with regard to savings products (EUROPE 9208). Distributed by just three banks (La Poste, les Caisses d'épargne and Crédit Mutuel), Livret A and Blue are financial products exempt from tax that aim to help develop savings and fund social housing. On Tuesday morning in an interview to France Inter, Mr Borloo underlined that, “social housing is not a European Commission competency” and demanded that the Commission keep out of a banking problem. He exclaimed, “when it comes to funding social housing, just leave us alone”. Asked by the press on the matter, the spokesperson declared, “the Commission has the duty of ensuring effective application of Community law in all Member States…We are not challenging the characteristics of Livret A or its seeking to finance social housing but rather, the distribution of the product, which is limited to three banks”. The Commission, which officially received the French response on Monday for requests for information, will therefore continue its analysis, added the spokesperson. (ab)