the euro area during the sovereign debt crisis, and in credit developments characterising the post-crisis recovery … strong determinants of credit rejections, in the crisis period bank weakness made it harder to obtain external finance for …This paper uses a unique dataset where credit rejections experienced by euro area firms are matched with firm and bank …

external financial institution can facilitate the access to credit. In particular, we focus on the European Investment Bank … Group (EIBG), which provides (i) specific credit lines to help banks that finance small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs … overcome the credit crunch. …