Article 1
1. The Union shall make available to Portugal a loan amounting to a maximum of EUR 26 billion, with a maximum average maturity of 7,5 years. 2. The financial assistance shall be made available during three years starting from the first day after the entry into force of this Decision. 3. The Union financial assistance shall be made available by the Commission to Portugal in a maximum of 14 instalments. An instalment may be disbursed in one or several tranches. The maturities of the tranches under the first instalment may be longer than the maximum average maturity referred to in paragraph 1. In such cases, the maturities of further tranches shall be set so that the maximum average maturity referred to in paragraph 1 be achieved once all instalments have been disbursed. 4. The first instalment shall be released subject to the entry into force of the Loan Facility Agreement and the Memorandum of Understanding. Any subsequent loan releases shall be conditional upon a favourable review by the Commission, in consultation with the ECB, of Portugal’s compliance with the general economic policy conditions as defined by this Decision and the Memorandum of Understanding. 5. Portugal shall pay the cost of funding of the Union for each tranche plus a margin of 215 basis points, which results in conditions similar to those of the IMF support. 6. In addition, the costs referred to in Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 407/2010 shall be charged to Portugal. 7. If required in order to finance the loan, the prudent use of interest rate swaps with counterparties of the highest credit quality and advanced borrowing shall be permitted. 8. The Commission shall decide on the size and release of further instalments. The Commission shall decide on the size of the tranches.