dc.description.abstract | The Council decisions establishing the various lending instrumentsof the European Communities require the Commission to inform the Council and European Parliament, each year, of the use of these instruments. In order to meet these information requirements, this report describes the lending operations for each of the areas concerned. In particular, the respective Council decisions1 for lending activities outside the Community require the Commission to inform the Council and Parliament on an annual basis of the situation regarding European Investment Bank (EIB) financing operations (loans and loan guarantees) guaranteed by the Union budget in the Pre-Accession Countries, the Mediterranean, Eastern Europe, Southern Caucasus and Russia, Asia and Latin America and the Republic of South Africa. To complete the picture of lending activities, the report gives a brief summary of the borrowing activities undertaken in order to finance the lending activities, of the macro-financial assistance provided by the Community to third countries and of the interest subsidies and guarantees associated with Community loans. In addition, it provides information on Euratom lending activities. More detailed information on the above activities, including statistical tables, is provided in the attached Staff Working Paper (hereinafter referred to as the “Annex”)2. References to Tables in this report are to the Annex unless otherwise stated |