Vol. 398 No. 6
34 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for Finance the reason the French Government, rather than the Irish Presidency, is taking the lead in the establishment of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development; and if Ireland will be represented on the board of the body in question.
The proposal for a new Bank for Eastern Europe was originally put forward by the French authorities last autumn.
At the Summit meeting in December last the European Council approved the creation of a bank in which the Community would hold a majority of the shares and which would draw its membership from a wide range of countries. The Council envisaged that Community participation would be primarily through the participation of individual member states, although the Community as an institution and the European Investment Bank would also participate. The mechanism for creating such an institution is by international agreement between all the founding members.
France, as initiator, summoned an international conference and the responsibility of the Irish Presidency was to ensure, within the Conference, that the interests of the Community were served in the establishment of the bank. The Irish Presidency has taken an active role both in achieving consensus on issues of interest to the Community and subsequently safeguarding those interests in the wider negotiating forum.
