Brussels - The European Commission paved the way Friday for Ford Romania SA to access a loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB), which will help finance the development of a low-emissions engine at its Craiova plant. The EIB is lending a total of 600 million euros (896 million dollars) to Ford Europe for the project, of which 200 million euros will go to Ford Werke GmbH in Germany and 400 million euros to Ford Romania.
The loans, and the corresponding guarantees being provided by the Romanian government, will cover a five-year period, from 2009 to 2014, with a maturity of seven years.
Ford's Romanian arm will use the EIB money to finance a 1 billion-euro project, part of European efforts aimed at developing "greener" cars which emit low levels of carbon dioxide.
The EIB has stepped up efforts to help support Europe's flagging car industry in the wake of the recession.
