14/02/2017 (Agence Europe) – The representatives of the Council of the EU and of the European Parliament have reached an inter-institutional political agreement on extending until 2020 the financial support for the organisations Finance Watch and Better Finance. “As much as regulators, consumers are well placed to judge the suitability of the financial product or service, and can contribute actively to policy-making”, said Edward Scicluna, the Maltese finance minister, on behalf of the Presidency of the Council of the EU. The envelope allocated to the programme is €6 million between 2017 and 2020, and this financial support may only be used to pay for up to 60% of the two organisations' activities. In addition to funding the organisations' involvement in putting together European policies in the financial sector, it will also be used to support public awareness activities of Finance Watch and Better Finance. (MB)