| Author (Person) | Chapman, Peter |
|---|---|
| Series Title | European Voice |
| Series Details | Vol.9, No.30, 18.9.03, p23 |
| Publication Date | 18/09/2003 |
| Content Type | News |
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Date:18/09/03 By Peter Chapman DAVID Byrne, the commissioner for consumer and health protection, has hit back at MEPs who "ambushed" his controversial draft directive on credit, insisting he has no intention of going back to the drawing board. In a rare move, members of the European Parliament's legal affairs committee, led by German Christian Democrat Joachim Würmeling, said the Irishman should rewrite his draft because the law was so riddled with errors they would have wasted too much time tabling amendments. Their decision to blackball Byrne will now be put to a vote of the full Parliament in Strasbourg next month. But the former Irish attorney-general insisted there is no chance he will tear up the draft law that would set harmonised rules for consumer loans across the Union. "Just to be absolutely clear, it is a simple 'no'", the visibly angry commissioner said, pinning the blame on a coalition of German conservatives and British socialists. "I was ambushed between two groups diametrically opposed to one another - and they voted against me. I would have been happier if they had decided to engage and to do a report and put forward their suggestions in the usual way. "That is the normal democratic process. I find it really strange for a democratic institution to do this." Byrne said he now hoped to set up meetings with the "main players" in the Parliament to "get some sort of rational response". Other committees, including those responsible for economic and monetary affairs and environment, opposed their colleagues, he added. The clamour for the withdrawal of the proposal followed a letter to deputies by outgoing health and consumer protection director-general Robert Coleman, which catalogues a long list of areas which the European Commission itself admitted needed to be removed or rewritten. These include an admission that a requirement for three sets of interest rates illustrating the cost of a loan was too much for customers to swallow, and the acknowledgement that part of the proposals covering data collection were in conflict with existing EU data privacy rules. Coleman also promised to re-examine the "sensitive nature" of allegations that the law could undermine existing rules for credit card holders in the UK and Finland. These allow customers to take up claims directly with their credit card company and not just the supplier. Meanwhile, many MEPs questioned the need for full harmonization in the consumer credit sector at all. Some argue that a one-size-fits-all rulebook will be unwieldy and fail to tackle national differences in lending culture. Last week Würmeling said all the gripes meant it made more sense for Byrne to start from scratch because there was a risk that some of the mistakes may escape the lengthy amendment process, or be kept in by some member states. But Byrne stated emphatically that MEPs are duty bound to amend the laws that the Commission proposes and not to reject them out of hand before doing their job. "It is not institutionally correct to just withdraw [a proposal]. "That is a failure to understand the institutional relationship between the Parliament and Commission. It is not a response that I find satisfactory." The European Commissioner for Consumer and Health Protection, David Byrne, has hit back at MEPs on the European Parliament's Legal Affairs Committee who voted against the draft consumer credit Directive. |
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