Consumer champion

Meglena Kuneva has started her new job as European commissioner for consumer protection at a time when the European Commission is meant to be delivering on ‘a citizens’ agenda’. But that does not guarantee her an easy task in defending her dossier against competing political interests.

Despite much trumpeting of the fledgling citizens’ agenda, the Commission is still not often perceived as an institution that sides with the little guy. It is true that Viviane Reding, the commissioner for information society and media, succeeded last year in pushing through proposals to cap roaming fees charged to those using their mobile phones abroad, but this was in the face of substantial internal opposition.

Fresh in her new job, however, Kuneva is upbeat. She concedes that the "table of the College of commissioners" is a "competitive environment" where there are sometimes differences of opinions, but insists on the need to remain "visionary".

"My role is absolutely clear," she says. "This is [about] consumers …This is my constituency and this is the centre of my universe."

Kuneva’s dossier might be named ‘consumer protection’, but she will not necessarily be adopting a ‘protective’ stance towards the EU citizen. "I am not paternalistic," she insists. "Consumers are not children…Even in such very important issues as health, there is a personal decision. So, that’s why information is very important to empower people, to empower their thinking first, and then their activities and their lives."

Kuneva’s crusade will not see her donning a cape and striking down corporate villains. Her aim is to clarify and update existing EU consumer laws to create a world where businesses and consumers know exactly where they stand. She laments the current fragmentation of rules across the EU’s 27 "mini markets", advancing her theory that development of the internal market does not preclude consumer satisfaction.

Her win-win thinking might at first sight seem naïve about consumer protection. But it helps to explain why she does not expect significant conflicts of interest with her fellow commissioners. "The retail market is underestimated for the EU economy. A great potential which is still sleeping," she explains. "Why is the market not better developed? Why are only 6% of citizens shopping cross-border?

"The lack of confidence is not some psychological inhibition," she says. "Unfortunately this is proved by the facts and the facts are that … there is not proper redress. We should expand the definition of protection, which means information, which means help through non-governmental organis-ations and through the responsible authorities, which means different ways of alternative dispute resolution."

Having a consumer protection policy with established dispute settlement mechanisms, she insists, will give consumers the confidence to buy more products cross-border, leading to increased productivity, economic growth and more jobs. "That’s why I think it’s very important to have a [consumer protection] policy," she says.

The consumer protection commissioner is claiming no monopoly over consumer protection. Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs, she points out, was persuaded to place consumer interests at the heart of the energy package, a series of proposals released last month to tackle climate change, ensure security of energy supply and improve competitiveness on the EU’s internal energy market. Competition policy too, she says, is geared towards consumer interests.

"What I am very satisfied about with the Commission [is that] there is a will which has not faded away to achieve more competitiveness, more productivity and we are like minded on this," she says. "We are a team. And the president is very supportive."

In her time as commissioner, Kuneva intends to spend a great deal of time delivering her messages on consumer protection to European capitals. "I made my promises during the [European Parliament] hearing … Now it’s not a matter of promises, it’s a matter of delivery. What I can tell you is that I would like to be very much in the capitals in the member states, starting with the new member states, because it’s very important to have the leverage to put more of the focus and attention [on] consumer protection because this is finally about citizens. We need action."

Meglena Kuneva has started her new job as European commissioner for consumer protection at a time when the European Commission is meant to be delivering on ‘a citizens’ agenda’. But that does not guarantee her an easy task in defending her dossier against competing political interests.