30.9.2014 Official Journal of the European Union L 284/53 COMMISSION DECISION of 3 July 2014 on State aid SA.33927 (12/C) (ex 11/NN) implemented by Belgium — Guarantee scheme protecting the shares of individual members of financial cooperatives (notified under document C(2014) 1021) (Only the Dutch and the French texts are authentic) (Text with EEA relevance) (2014/686/EU) THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION, Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular the first subparagraph of Article 108(2) thereof, Having regard to the Agreement on the European Economic Area, and in particular Article 62(1)(a) thereof, Having called on interested parties to submit their comments pursuant to the provisions cited above (') and having regard to their comments, Whereas: 1. PROCEDURE (1) By letter of 7 November 2011, the Belgian State notified the Commission that it had put in place a guarantee scheme (‘the cooperative guarantee scheme’ or ‘the measure’) to cover the shares of individual shareholders in those recognised cooperatives which are either under prudential supervision of the National Bank of Belgium (NBB’) or have invested at least half of their assets in an institution subject to such supervision (financial coopera- tives)). (2) By letter of 6 December 2011, the Commission indicated to the Belgian State that the measure might represent unlawful State aid (*) and urged the Belgian State to refrain from further steps to implement the measure. The Commission invited the Belgian State to comment on its preliminary findings which the Belgian State did by letter of 22 December 2011. (3) By decision of 3 April 2012 (‘the Opening Decision’), the Commission informed Belgium that it had initiated the procedure laid down in Article 108(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (the Treaty) in respect of the measure and it enjoined Belgium in accordance with Article 11(1) of Council Regulation (EC) No 659/19The Belgian Council of State also pointed to the potential99 of 22 March 1999 laying down detailed rules for the application of Article 108 of the treaty on the functioning of the European Union (%) to suspend the measure until the Commission had decided on its compatibility with the internal market. The Commission required Belgium to immediately cease any action which would further implement the cooperative guarantee scheme and to abstain from any payments under the measure. The Commission decision to initiate the procedure — by which the Commission also invited interested parties to comment on the measure — was published in the Official Journal of the European Union (*). (4) By letters of 24 April 2012 and 31 May 2012, the Belgian State asked for additional time to react on the Opening Decision, to which the Commission did not object. By letter of 18 June 2012, the Belgian State sent a reaction on the Opening Decision annexed to which was, among others, a letter from the Governor of the NBB to the Belgian Minister of Finance dated 7 October 2011. () OJC213,19.7.2012,p. 64. (%) The Belgian Council of State also pointed to the potential State aid character of the measure. See Avis du Conseil d’Etat No 46.131/2 of 4 March 2009. () OJL83,27.3.1999, p. 1. (*) See footnote 1.