Brussels, 23/06/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 23 June, the Latvian Presidency of the Council of the EU and European Parliament negotiators reached an inter-institutional agreement on a draft directive to reform the procedure for settling minor litigation and small amounts of debt.
The draft directive seeks to create the use of simplified procedure for cross-border litigation for small amounts of debt when recovering debts abroad (see EUROPE 11297).
According to the compromise text, litigation thresholds covered by the procedure will increase from €2,000 to €5,000. Lidia Joanna Geringer de Oedenberg (S&D, Poland), EP rapporteur on the dossier, explained that without additional costs in relation to national procedures, this mechanism is expected to, “simplify the litigation procedure and reduce the costs of cross-border small debt recovery by, for example, encouraging the use of video conferencing”. The possibility of a further increase in the litigation threshold will be examined during the five first years of application of the new rules, explained the Legal Affairs Committee in a press release. MEPs succeeded in ensuring that the extension of the procedure to cases linked to labour law, such as litigation regarding wages earned in different member states, would also be assessed over the next few years. (Solenn Paulic)