In a bid to cushion the impact of the financial crisis on the real economy, in September 2008 the Council of EU Finance Ministers meeting in Nice called on the European Investment Bank (EIB) to make available EUR 15 billion in 2008-2009 to underpin investment by Europe's small firms, as part of an overall package of EUR 30 billion. Less than four months later, the EIB announces that in 2008 it provided credit lines worth EUR 1.5 billion for small businesses through commercial banks in France, out of an EU-wide total of EUR 8.5 billion. This represents an increase of over 60% compared to the EIB's SME support activity in 2007.

The EIB unveiled its EU SME support plan at the end of September, ten days after the Nice Council meeting, taking the opportunity to launch a new, simpler, more flexible and more transparent system of lending to small businesses through commercial banks. Since then, it has signed six new generation credit lines with commercial banks in France totalling EUR 1.1 billion, forming part of the EUR 4.7 billion made available since September in the European Union as a whole.

Reaffirming the Bank's commitment to helping Europe's small firms, EIB Vice-President Philippe de Fontaine Vive said: "The EIB is well on the way to achieving the ambitious goals set for it by the European Council less than four months ago aimed at assisting small businesses that are currently finding it difficult to obtain credit. We are placing our knowledge of the SME financing market, our close relations with the banking sector and our ability to respond rapidly at the service of the EU's economic recovery plan".

The six French banks with which the EIB has signed new generation credit lines are: BNP Paribas (EUR 300 million), Crédit Agricole (EUR 100 million), OSEO (EUR 160 million), Arkea Group (EUR 120 million), Banque Fédérative du Crédit Mutuel (EUR 110 million) and Société Générale (EUR 300 million).