Answer given by Mr Rehn on behalf of the Commission

14.6.2012

The euro area Member States (EAMS) have disbursed to Greece, in the context of the first adjustment programme, EUR 52.9 billion. The specific amounts paid by each Member State are shown in Table 2 of the latest Commission compliance report, which is available at: http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/publications/occasional_paper/2012/pdf/ocp94_en.pdf

In the second adjustment programme, the EAMS contribute EUR 144.7 billion, via the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF). The contributions of each Member State as guarantees to the EFSF can be found in Table 3 of the above report.

The loans of the first adjustment programme were granted at moderate interest rates, between 2.9 and 4 %: the Honourable Member is referred to Table 18 of the same report. The EFSF loans to Greece and other Member States are virtually at cost. Therefore the Commission does not consider that the other EAMS get any substantial financial benefit from their loans to Greece as the Honourable Member hints in the preamble of his question. The interest of the loans is intended to ensure coverage of funding costs of the participant countries, including compensation for those who face higher funding costs. Actually, after the Eurogroup's decision of 21 February 2012 on the retroactive reduction of interest rates charged under the Greek loan facility, it may even be possible that some Member States do effectively finance Greece below their own funding cost since the Council decided that there will be no additional compensation for higher funding costs.

In any case, the loans to Greece have been granted by the EAMS with the aim of contributing to the financial stability of the euro area, and in a spirit of EU solidarity, and not as a means of obtaining any direct financial benefit.

OJ C 137 E, 16/05/2013