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Commission has 'no reason' to question Fortis deal - EUobserver

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Despite Benelux governments announcing a partial nationalisation of Fortis Bank on Sunday, the ongoing financial crisis continued to collect scalps through Europe on Monday (29 September), with the UK and Germany intervening to save financial institutions. Meanwhile, the European Central Bank has announced it would lend eurozone banks €120 billion in "a special term refinancing operation."

The European Central Bank announced it would lend eurozone banks €120 billion in "a special term refinancing operation."

The decision by the Belgian, Dutch and Luxembourger governments to purchase half the Belgo-Dutch banking giant for €11.2 billion represents the biggest bailout of a European bank since the beginning of the crisis.

The European Commission said on Monday it had been consulted during the negotiations and had so far no reason to believe the deal was in breach of EU competition rules.

"Up until now the national authorities in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg have been listening to what the commission has been saying, so we have no reason to think that what they are going to notify the commission of is not going to be acceptable to the commission in terms of state aid rules," Jonathan Todd, a spokesperson for the institution told a press briefing in Brussels.

by Fran on Tue Sep 30th, 2008 at 03:30:56 PM EST
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Too many commission workers have their bank accounts at Fortis, I would suspect...

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
by Jerome a Paris (etg@eurotrib.com) on Tue Sep 30th, 2008 at 04:34:27 PM EST
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Are you saying the Commission should properly be shooting down the bank rescues as "Illegal state aid"?

A vivid image of what should exist acts as a surrogate for reality. Pursuit of the image then prevents pursuit of the reality -- John K. Galbraith
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Sep 30th, 2008 at 04:40:21 PM EST
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Don't know about "should properly", but "would normally" sounds about right.

Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed. Gandhi
by Cyrille (cyrillev domain yahoo.fr) on Tue Sep 30th, 2008 at 05:08:32 PM EST
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According to rules applied to other sectors, yes indeed.
by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Wed Oct 1st, 2008 at 02:29:13 AM EST
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Then we need to start questioning the Commission when they apply the rules to other sectors.

A vivid image of what should exist acts as a surrogate for reality. Pursuit of the image then prevents pursuit of the reality -- John K. Galbraith
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Oct 1st, 2008 at 03:03:04 AM EST
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Banks aren't a cosmetic company.

At this point (with h/t to ChrisCook) they are the lynch pin of an economy.  Pull it and watch the whole edifice collapse.

She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre

by ATinNM on Wed Oct 1st, 2008 at 03:06:30 AM EST
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But then they have no business being run for the profit of their management.

A vivid image of what should exist acts as a surrogate for reality. Pursuit of the image then prevents pursuit of the reality -- John K. Galbraith
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Oct 1st, 2008 at 03:09:54 AM EST
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That's why there used to be Regulations and Controls on banks so we wouldn't get into this mess, again (as in 1888, 189something, 1905, and 1929.)

She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre
by ATinNM on Wed Oct 1st, 2008 at 03:28:52 AM EST
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ATinNM: At this point (with h/t to ChrisCook) they are the lynch pin of an economy.  Pull it and watch the whole edifice collapse.

"Finance is so central and peculiar, so essential, and yet it carries a death threat for the economy," said Jagdish Bhagwati, a professor of economics at Columbia. "What we've seen, once again, is that finance is a very powerful instrument, but one that needs to be intensively watched."


Truth unfolds in time through a communal process.
by marco on Wed Oct 1st, 2008 at 03:30:02 AM EST
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