Translation of "Rappeler un prêt " (French → English) :

In order to answer this question, the Commission recalls that when the State grants a loan with an interest rate below the market rate, the aid is granted at the time of the conclusion of the loan, even if the advantage only materialises at each interest payment dates, when the borrower pays a lower interest rate (87).

As regards the existence of an advantage, the Commission recalls that the guaranteed loan was granted in January 2000, at a time when no market economy investor would have provided a loan or a guarantee to HSY anymore, as previously concluded.

Recalls the importance of developing financial education as a complement to adequate consumer protection, especially in the field of retail banking (for instance as regards loans, mortgages, diversified and safe saving and investment); calls on the Member States and the banking sector to take and coordinate measures to raise financial literacy among citizens, including children, young people, employees and retired people, with a view to educating and empowering consumers in order to enable them to seek better, cheaper and more appropriate products and services and to foster competition, quality and innovation within the banking industry; recalls that confident investors can pr ...[+++]ovide additional liquidity for capital markets;

The Commission recalls that, normally, having determined that the benefit is equivalent to the full amount of the financial contribution (in this case, a loan or loan guarantee), the Commission treats it as a ‘non-recurring’ subsidy and allocates it over a period of time corresponding to the normal depreciation of fixed assets in the industry concerned.

Nevertheless, it is as well to remember that the loans have to be applied for (by way of comparison, it should be noted that EUR 34 million of loans were granted by the EIB to the ACP countries of the Caribbean in 1998, while no operation was signed in the French overseas departments of the region).

Mr. Alex Shepherd: Because of loans being on a short-term or demand basis, those two figures can tell you that if times are bad, using a 30-day call notice banks can simply call your loan.