European Commission commissions Scope to assess its creditworthiness

The European Commission today mandated Scope, an EU-based credit rating agency, to rate its creditworthiness alongside the other mandated credit rating agencies. By mandating SCOPE, the European Commission shows its commitment to promoting new entrants and competition in the market for credit ratings. This is one of the objectives of the EU rules on credit rating agencies. With this mandate, Scope's current unsolicited AAA/Outlook Stable rating for the European Commission - which raises bonds on the capital markets on behalf of the EU - becomes a solicited rating.

The European Commission is currently rated AA /outlook positive by Standard & Poor's, Aaa /outlook stable by Moody's and AAA /outlook stable by Fitch and has also received an unsolicited rating of AAA/outlook stable by DBRS. Thanks to its high creditworthiness, the Commission receives favourable conditions for its issues on behalf of the EU. The benefits are then passed on to EU Member States and third countries, resulting in savings for the EU budget depending on the nature and objectives of the financing programmes.

Further information can be found here.