‘EU citizenship Report 2010 - Dismantling the obstacles to EU citizens' rights’
Grech’s Parliamentary Opinion : Seeking to regain the trust of European Citizens
Last Thursday, 29 March 2012, the EP report: ‘EU citizenship Report 2010 - Dismantling the obstacles to EU citizens' rights’ into which the Grech Parliamentary Opinion was incorporated, was put to the vote in plenary, and subsequently adopted.
In his Opinion, Grech calls for the future development of the Single Market to be driven by the concerns of citizens and consumers. Grech highlights the Commission’s legislative proposals on the use of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) and Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) and underlines the importance of their effective adoption, as well as of promoting wider use of mediation and urges the Commission to ensure that a legally binding framework is prepared in the field of collective redress . Incidentally, Grech was recently appointed as IMCO rapporteur to draw up a legislative report on behalf of the European Parliament on the Commission’s Proposal for a Directive in the field of ADR.
Grech also underscores the importance of one-stop-shops and commends the Commission for its work on the Your Europe Portal and encourages completion of the development of this innovative tool, particularly by stepping up solutions for adequately resourced physical one-stop-shops at national level by ensuring that they are located within the representations of the European Commission in the various EU Member States.
In respect of the health-sector - Grech supports the Commission’s proposals to facilitate better access to cross-border healthcare and stresses that one of the main causes of frustration for citizens receiving health care abroad is that they are not sufficiently aware of their rights and the means available for enforcing them and for this reason he calls on the Commission and the Member States to inform EU citizens better about these rights, including the practical aspects of their exercise, in particular with regard to reimbursement of costs.
In the area of banking,Grech urges the Commission to look upon the development of the Digital Single Market as a priority, so that consumers have full access to more competitive offers of goods and services – Primarily that access to banking services for EU citizens who establish themselves in another EU Member State should be further facilitated and improve the transparency of banking fees.
Finally, in a speech delivered by Mr Grech during the same plenary session, the Maltese MEP reiterated former calls for the adoption of a Citizens’ Rights Charter and for the Commission to follow up the ‘Citizens’ Top 20 Concerns Initiative’ with focused and clearly-defined ‘Top 20 Solutions’ as soon as possible.
