The interinstitutional negotiations on the proposed EU Directive on consumer credit agreements were kicked off on Thursday 15 September in Strasbourg by negotiators from the European Parliament, the Czech Presidency of the EU Council and the European Commission, “in a constructive atmosphere”, according to the participants.
For this first ‘trilogue’, as is customary, the three parties presented their respective positions on this legislation, which aims to take account of the increasing digitalisation of a market where new operators and risky credits have appeared, to prevent over-indebtedness of consumers and to create an internal market for credit through harmonised conditions for credit companies.
The Commission’s proposal of June 2021 intends to repeal the obsolete Directive 2008/48/EC (see EUROPE 12752/3).
The EU Council, which adopted its position in June 2022, weakened the text by excluding deferred debit cards and crowdfunding services, among others, from its scope (see EUROPE 12968/5).
Parliament, which voted in July, reinforced the proposal (see EUROPE 12752/3).
The scope, the assessment of consumer creditworthiness and the level of harmonisation will certainly be the most important issues to be addressed in the efforts to reconcile positions at political level. For the time being, a mandate has been given to make technical progress in the coming weeks.
“For me personally, especially in light of the current energy crisis, which is likely to at least partially spill over into an economic crisis, it is extremely important that we negotiate a proposal that protects vulnerable consumers from the negative impact of these crises as more consumers will be targeted to get consumer credits to make ends meet. The European Parliament will do its maximum to protect them”, the chief negotiator for Parliament, Kateřina Konečná (GUE/NGL, Czech) told EUROPE.
No date has yet been set for the second trilogue. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)