affiliatemeans any entity belonging to the same group as defined by Article 2(12) of Directive 2002/87/EC.
auctionmeans the issuance process of the Union and Euratom debt securities based on competitive bids through an auction platform on primary market;
borrowing programmesmeans the Union and the Euratom programmes involving borrowing activities on the financial markets, in particular, financial assistance decided in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 407/2010, Regulation (EC) No 332/2002, the Decisions of the European Parliament and of the Council providing macro-financial assistance to various countries on the basis of a provisioning in accordance with Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 480/2009 or Decision (EU) 2020/701, as well as Regulation (EU) 2020/672, the Euratom programme under Decision 77/270/Euratom, and borrowing on the basis of Article 5 of Decision (EU, Euratom) 2020/2053;
credit institutionmeans credit institution as defined in Article 4, paragraph 1 (1), of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council;
debt securitiesmeans notes and/or short term financial instruments, such as treasury bills, as well as any other financial instrument, issued by the Union and/or the Euratom;
European supranational issuermeans the Council of Europe Development Bank, the European Financial Stability Facility, European Stability Mechanism, the European Investment Bank and the Nordic Investment Bank;
Investment firmsmeans investment firms as defined in Article 4(1), point 1 of Directive 2014/65/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council;
members of the primary dealer networkmeans any credit institutions or investment firms fulfilling the eligibility criteria set out in Article 4 and included in the list referred to in Article 11;