2. Notes the increasing number of petitions and other submissions from citizens seeking legal and financial redress on issues that fall outside the EU’s area of competence pursuant to Article 227 of the Treaty as well as Article 51 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, such as, for example, requests to review the calculation of national pensions, overrule decisions by national courts, support proposals to re-draw Europe’s frontiers, force a bank to grant a personal loan, etc.; fully supports the action taken by Parliament’s responsible Directorates-General to find a solution for dealing with these submissions from citizens while taking into account Parliament’s obligations with regard to its correspondence ...[+++] with citizens;

34. Stresses the important role which the European Economic Recovery Plan has assigned to the EIB, especially with regard to the enhanced financing for SMEs, energy from renewable sources, and clean transport; welcomes the decision to increase EIB lending volume by 30 % (EUR 15 billion) in 2009 and 2010 and the decision to increase the subscribed capital of the EIB by EUR 67 billion to EUR 232 billion, in line with the Lisbon Strategy; however, urges Member States to further increase the EIB capital in such a way as to ensure that its lending capacity matches the mid-term financial needs for industries and business where necessary to s ...[+++]upport green and sustainable jobs; stresses those additional funds should aim to achieve long-term effects; considers that enlarged responsibilities necessitate both adequate human and financial resources and increased transparency and accountability of the EIB´s operations;

34. Stresses the important role which the European Economic Recovery Plan has assigned to the EIB, especially with regard to the enhanced financing for SMEs, energy from renewable sources, and clean transport; welcomes the decision to increase EIB lending volume by 30 % (EUR 15 billion) in 2009 and 2010 and the decision to increase the subscribed capital of the EIB by EUR 67 billion to EUR 232 billion, in line with the Lisbon Strategy; however, urges Member States to further increase the EIB capital in such a way as to ensure that its lending capacity matches the mid-term financial needs for industries and business where necessary to s ...[+++]upport green and sustainable jobs; stresses those additional funds should aim to achieve long-term effects; considers that enlarged responsibilities necessitate both adequate human and financial resources and increased transparency and accountability of the EIB´s operations;

In preparing its assessment, the Treasury Board Secretariat would assess the consistency of the budget proposals with the officers' mandates, would review the proposals against prior spending and performance information from the previous estimate cycles, and would determine whether the resource requests were aligned with the proposed activities and the anticipated results.

7. For the retail and/or commercial banking business lines, the loans and advances shall consist of the total drawn amounts in the corresponding credit portfolios.

Last year the SBLA underwrote loans equalling 20% of all loans under $250,000 made by the commercial banks and qualified lenders to small business in Canada.