Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-01-15-Speech-2-063"
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"en.20080115.7.2-063"2
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"Mr President, the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection, and previously the Committee on Legal Affairs, have always recognised the potential benefits, to both businesses and consumers, of developing an internal market and consumer credit. I was present during the gestation of this legislation and hope to be there tomorrow for the final delivery, as it were, of the new consumer credit baby!
The last five years of discussion and debate have demonstrated fundamental differences between the Commission and Parliament, and more specifically between the Member States, on the best way to achieve this, and I firmly believe there are lessons to be learned from that. All proposals – even a modified Commission proposal – have to undergo a rigorous impact assessment to enable all parties and stakeholders to evaluate the merits of the proposals and to engender consumer confidence and business confidence.
It is regrettable that neither the Commission nor the Council was prepared to do this at the time. However, our job today is to address the new text, which is a vast improvement on the original proposal. It focuses on the essential elements and components for starting to open the market and for protecting the consumer. Its benefits include enabling consumers to compare offers of credit, obliging lenders to assess the credit-worthiness of the consumer – which will be important in the fight against debt across the EU – and obliging lenders to provide explanations and, as a result of our amendments, all creditors will now be responsible for providing comprehensive and standard information in a simplified format.
I welcome the 14-day withdrawal right and the right to early repayment, which are good elements for engendering consumer confidence and encouraging them to look beyond their home market for credit offers. This is not just about opening the market, and the fact that we now have free movement of labour and people across 27 EU Member States gives this law new significance. For example, a Polish plumber working in France or Germany and borrowing from a credit institution there can now obviously compare the different offers on APR in the knowledge that he has the standard information enabling him to take the right decision.
Finally, I welcome the fact that the Commission, by exempting credit unions from this law, is not strangling small Community providers with red tape. I also welcome the Member State flexibility there is now. This has, for example, enabled a high level of protection to be maintained for consumers in the UK, which will now retain the right to joint and several liability for credit cards. There is therefore enough flexibility in this proposal to make it work, and I would urge Members to lend it their support.
As chair of the Committee, I think that our work does not finish here ..."@en1
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