seriously threatened by exceptional occurrences beyond its control. Surprisingly, in 2010 the ‘exceptional occurrences’ were not identified with systemic problems in the Economic and Monetary Union, but with the ‘unprecedented global financial crisis and economic downturn’, which was responsible for a recession that could not be explained as a negative peak of an economic cycle [Recital 3 of Regulation (EU) 407/2010]. The EFSM was deemed transitory and merely instrumental for the stabilization of financial markets in the context of the global banking crises that started with the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy of September 2008. The mechanism allowed an EU bailout of Eurozone Member States for only up to €60 billion through loans and lines of credit in the international capital markets. Member States did not directly undertake any liability, as the EFSM funded itself through loans secured by the EU budget [Articles 2 (1) and 5 of Regulation (EU) 407/2010]. 2.3. Access to the EFSM mimics IMF´s bailouts.XV A Eurozone Member State facing ‘exceptional financial occurrences beyond its control’ presents a draft economic and financial adjustment programme to the Commission and to the Economic and Financial Committee of the Council. The draft is based on an assessment of the financial needs of the Member State previously discussed with the Commission and the ECB [Article 3 (1) Regulation (EU) 407/2010]. The draft is afterwards presented to the Council that, acting by a qualified majority on a loan proposal of the Commission, adopts a decision that includes: i) the amount, the average maturity, the pricing formula, the maximum number of instalments, the availability period of the Union financial assistance and other rules; ii) the adjustment programme prepared by the beneficiary Member State; and iii) the general economic policy conditions attached to the Union´s financial assistance. The general economic policy conditions are established by the Commission in liaison with the ECB with a view to reestablishing a sound economic or financial situation in the beneficiary Member State and to restoring its capacity to finance itself on the financial markets [Articles 3 (3) and (4) of Regulation (EU) 407/2010]. The beneficiary Member State and the Commission then enter into negotiation on the financial conditions of the specific economic policy conditions attached to the financial assistance. The negotiation ends with the signature of the MoU [Articles 3 (5) of Regulation (EU) 407/2010]. Except where otherwise noted content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons 2.5 Italy License E -111