Brussels, 26/05/2010 (Agence Europe) - At a policy debate in Brussels on Tuesday 25 May, EU27 competitiveness ministers discussed the draft EU directive on consumer contractual rights (see EUROPE 10144), where they struck a realistic note. Guided by a Spanish Presidency questionnaire and a report by former EU Internal Market Commissioner Mario Monti, the debate provided an opportunity for most of the delegations to subscribe to the idea of hybrid harmonisation.
The chair of the Competitiveness Council, Miguel Sebastián, welcomed the breakthrough and many delegations thanked EU Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship Commissioner Viviane Reding for her decisive input and flexibility, which had given a new impetus to an issue that had been in deadlock since October 2008. Her willingness to combine the idea of full harmonisation for contracts with a strong European dimension with as much targetted harmonisation as possible for other contracts (like online and remote contracts) managed to win over adherents on either side of the divide (countries wanting full harmonisation include Luxembourg, Italy, Malta and the Baltic states).
Viviane Reding said it was difficult to draw any conclusions from the debate, but the aim had been to achieve as much as possible. The ideal aim was not possible so she said she had opted for a flexible approach that had been shared by the vast majority, the details of which still need to be clarified. Speaking on behalf of the Belgian Presidency (for the second half of this year), minister Vincent Van Quickenborne said Belgium would pull out the stops to ensure a common approach or even a genuine political agreement at the Council of Ministers before the end of the year.
Luxembourg is very disappointed and is urging Reding to hold out for full harmonisation. At the start of the debate, Luxembourg's competitiveness ministers said that there was already basic harmonisation and nothing made any sense because people praise the merits of the single market but they were going to end up with 27 different markets! (A.N./transl.fl)