Latest posts
Prize “Personality in service of society”
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I want to thank the Citizen’s Forum “Vidovden” for awarding me with their annual prize “Personality in service of society” for 2009. This gives me additional impetus to continue my public work and stand for the developm...
Websites selling electronic goods
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Today, 9th September I have published the results of a Europe-wide screening of websites selling the most popular electronic goods including digital cameras, mobile phones, personal music and DVD players, games consoles and computer equipment. This i...
Consumer policy is on the right track
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At the end of last week I attended the European Business Leaders Convention in Helsinki where I delivered the keynote speech. It was very useful to learn the views of McKinsey Global Institute on the consumer responses to the crisis. Consumer behavio...
Annual conference of EPC
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The Annual conference of the European Policy Centre took place on 17th June and was dedicated to the state and future of the Union. The discussion between panellists and participants was lively and focused on many issues. These included the challenge...
Airlines’ websites
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On 14 May I published the results of the work we have undertaken over the last two years to clean up airline ticket selling websites. There were - and still are - serious problems in this area. Many people are attracted to buying a ticket from...
Financial Services
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I recently gave a speech on the state of retail financial services and the problems that exist in that market for consumers -http://ec.europa.eu/commission_barroso/kuneva/speeches_en.htm. Many consumers fail to understand complex financial products,...
Don’t take a holiday from consumer protection this summer
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This Thursday (14th May) I’ll be hosting a webchat on issues affecting consumers this summer. Have you recently bought a timeshare and are having second thoughts? Have you ever won a “free” holiday abroad and ended up paying for i...
eYou Guide
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Last Saturday (2 May) I was in Bulgaria with my fellow Commissioner Viviane Reding. We made a presentation of our joint project the eYouGuide - the place where you can find all kind of good advice when surfing the Internet http://ec.europa.eu/informa...
Consumers in recession
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Just coming back from a very interesting discussion on the topic “Consumers in recession”, kindly organised by the European Policy Centre. This was a dialogue, which on the one hand collected the views of few organisations at EU level -...
Visit to Portugal
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On 27, 28 April I went to Portugal to celebrate the 35th anniversary of Deco, the Portuguese consumers’ association which has contributed so much to developing consumer policy in Portugal. The anniversary was commemorated with a seminar on fin...
Making progress on the Consumer Rights Directive
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On 7th April I went to Leuven to participate in a seminar on “Modernising and Harmonising Consumer Contract Law”. This was a follow-up to a conference which had been held in Manchester in January this year. At Leuven I received a copy of...
European Consumer Summit
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Just a few days ago the first ever European Consumer Summit was held. The Summit, which was held in Brussels, brought together more then 400 people. Amongst others, these included representatives of consumer organisations, governmental consumer bodie...
Through the eyes of our children
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My fellow colleagues commissioners Wallström and Figel have recently launched an excellent initiative called “Spring days for Europe”, and I would like to support their efforts. This campaign is open to all schools in Europe and enables...
Happy European Consumer Day!
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March 15 is European Consumer Day, which is something to celebrate. At the same time though, I believe that in today’s Europe, everyday should be the consumers’ day. In the modern world, driving prosperity means business and consumers ene...
Sustainable Consumers for a Greener Life
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Yesterday I had an exciting and very promising experience – the Launch of the Retail Environment Forum, together with my fellow Commissioner Stavros Dimas. With 20 retail chains, 4 retailers’ organisations and some stakeholders we agreed to u...
Happy birthday “Unfair Commercial Practices” Directive
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On 24th of February I participated in an interesting event organised by the Commission here in Brussels, to evaluate our experience with the transposition of the “Unfair Commercial Practices” Directive, one year on. It was a chance to loo...
Five in one
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Last week I presented to the public the second edition of the Consumer Market Scoreboard. This is an exciting and rather unique report that presents information on the outcomes of important markets for consumers. It provides data on prices, complai...
An intensive day in Bratislava
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I am just back from Slovakia. Three points that impressed me most: - Slovakia is the 16th Member State which is using the euro as its currency. This happened on 1 January 2009, in a remarkably smooth and well coordinated manner. Public authorities an...
On the point
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With the rather eventful kick-off to the season here in Brussels, Christmas and New Year are now but a distant memory, I’m afraid. Still, it is not too late for some New Year’s resolutions for 2009. Coinciding with the inauguration in W...
Smart Shopping
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Gearing up for the Christmas holidays, many of us are thinking about buying presents for our loved ones. Times are not easy this season and many families are having to manage a stricter budget. This is the time for smart shoppers: 1. Shop around T...
