§ Mrs. Margaret EwingTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list for each year since the inception of the scheme the total funds lent by the European investment bank; if he will show as a proportion of the total the amounts provided to businesses and others in each of the member states; whether the rules governing eligibility of loan finance from the European investment bank are identical in various member states; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Ryder[holding answer 18 April 1990]: The European investment bank was set up in 1958. The membership of the bank has expanded as new members have acceded to the European Community—Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom in 1973, Greece in 1981 and Spain and Portugal in 1986.
Tables have been placed in the House Library which show the total of funds lent by the European investment bank including lending outside the European Community, the total of funds lent by the bank within the Community and the proportion of the total lent to the European Community provided to each of the member states. Records are available centrally only from the date when the United Kingdom joined the EIB and not for previous years. The rules governing access to European investment bank loan finance apply equally to each member state.