the decision to open an infringement procedure

The European Commission yesterday officially opened the way to a trivialization of the Livret A, now exclusively distributed by La Banque Postale and Caisses d'Epargne and the blue booklet, marketed by the Crédit Mutuel. Brussels has indeed opened an infringement procedure against the France, on the basis of article 86 of the Treaty on the exclusive rights granted by the Member States to certain undertakings. For the direction of the competition, the exclusivity enjoyed by three banking institutions could breach two key internal market principles: the freedom of establishment and freedom to provide services.

Two months to respond

Bercy will have two months to respond to the formal notice of Brussels, but summer break requires, should have to fall to justify. According to the preliminary contact that had the Commission with Bercy, the Government appears to be resigned to the idea of trivializing these two books even if the consequences of such a decision are not yet precisely known, especially to the financing of social housing, or La Banque Postale.

This announcement "is part of the line of pursuit by French banks." "This is not a surprise", said to AFP Patrick Werner, President of the Executive Board of La Banque Postale. I am quite calm. "We can explain what the booklet A de La Banque Postale which allows him to fight against exclusion at a level that no one else did", he said, specifying that La Banque Postale "pays" 50 of French social pensioners. The definition of the conditions in which other banks will be able to market these two deferred products is indeed posed. One of the questions is whether they will be forced to open one of these books to anyone who will make the application...

The subject is politically sensitive to the extent where the booklet A is used as a "purse" by thousands of French very modest income and contributes to social cohesion. The collected funds are centralized at the level of the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations (CDC) to finance social housing. The Commission was careful to clarify that its approach "does imply no change in the functioning of these booklets for individuals".

In addition, Brussels has decided to extend an investigation initiated in the 1990s on the arrangements for management of the blue booklet. The Commission suspects the Crédit Mutuel to be "surcompensé" for the service it provides by the distributing. In January 2002, it had condemned the mutual Bank to repay some 164 million euros to the French State, but the Court of first instance of Luxembourg set aside this decision in January 2005, the Commission alleging a failure to state reasons.

"Concrete proposals".

The dual offensives launched yesterday by the Commission goes in the direction of the four banks French (Crédit Agricole, BNP Paribas, Société Générale, Banques Populaires) which, since more than a year, have multiplied the legal steps to both prevent the creation of La Banque Postale, born January 1, and question the exclusivity of distribution of the booklet a. "the decision to open an infringement procedure"., repeats the arguments that we have always developed, aimed at ensuring free and fair competition, welcomed, yesterday, the National Federation of Credit Agricole. The proof that the current system of distribution of the booklet A lived. "The Green Bank, who said have"concrete proposals to formulate", so appeal to public authorities so they"begin a dialogue with all stakeholders in the banking world, as the world of social housing, without forgetting local elected representatives ". The ball is in the camp of Bercy.