Mr. Andrew McDowell:

I will stick to the factual situation. Unlike many other multilateral lending banks, such as the World Bank and other multilateral lending institutions, there is no provision in our statutes for a country to exit and to withdraw its shareholding. The legal situation, to say the least, is not clear. There is no automatic right to recover upon exit the share capital paid in. It is simply was not envisaged in the statutes establishing the European Investment Bank.