On Wednesday 29 August, the committee on economic and monetary affairs (ECON) of the European Parliament discussed the draft report by Eva Maydell (EPP, Bulgaria) on the proposal to harmonise the costs of cross-border payments in euro throughout the EU (see EUROPE 11991).
Although there appears to be consensus on the rapporteur's proposals on the 'currency conversion' plank, differences of opinion exist over whether to extend the effects of the regulation to cross-border payments in currencies other than euro.
In her draft report (see EUROPE 12080), Maydell echoes the Commission's analysis that such an extension would not only be excessively burdensome, but would bring few advantages.
This is a disappointment to Sweden's Olle Ludvigsson (S&D), who considers that this section leaves a lot to be desired, particularly as, in its action plan on retail financial services (see EUROPE 11752), the Commission appeared more ambitious.
“If the aim is to reduce the cost of payments in all member states, it is logical that any amendment to the regulation covers all currencies of EU countries”, he said.
This was echoed by Stanisław Ożóg (ECR, Poland). He considers that the clause added by the rapporteur asking the Commission to draft a report on the application of the regulation, possibly accompanied by a proposal to extend its scope of application to the other EU currencies, is merely a “minor modification that is basically symbolic”.
The Bulgarian MEP, who has listened to her colleagues' arguments, nonetheless called for caution. “There are opinions that such a scenario could lead to disproportionately high costs for those providers compared to the actual benefit for the users at this point”, she explained, stressing that service providers could also be tempted to increase the cost of their other services.
The proposal already covers 80% of cross-border transactions of countries outside the Eurozone, she added. This already represents a “considerable step forward” from the status quo.
The political groups of the European Parliament agreed on a tight timetable, with the ECON committee to vote on 5 November, followed by a vote at the first plenary session of the same month, in order to start inter-institutional negotiations with the Council of the EU as soon as possible. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)