President. − The next item is the report (A7-0292/2011) by Sari Essayah, on behalf of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing technical requirements for credit transfers and direct debits in euros and amending Regulation (EC) No 924/2009 (COM(2010)0775 – C7-0434/2010 – 2010/0373(COD)).

  Corien Wortmann-Kool, deputising for the rapporteur. − Mr President, this may be a surprise, but problems at Schipol airport, where there was a bomb alert today, have meant that Ms Essayah unfortunately cannot be here at the moment, so she has asked me to represent her.

On her behalf, I would like to say that she is very happy with the outcome of the trialogue and the agreement which we reached with the Commission and the Council. She would like to thank the representatives of the Council, Commissioner Barnier, the Chair of the ECON committee, Ms Bowles, the shadow rapporteurs and all those who proposed amendments and contributed to this excellent result, as well as the ECON Secretariat which makes our work possible.

The completion of the Single European Payment Area is of great importance for the European internal market and has numerous benefits for our citizens. From February 2014 onwards, all electronic payments in the euro area will be as easy as cash payments. Citizens and companies will benefit from SEPA in several ways, but the most obvious of them is that is possible to make payments to all over Europe from a single bank account. That is now possible for everyone.

All cross-border debit and credit transfers can now be done as if they were normal domestic payments. With SEPA only one bank account is needed for the whole euro area by using the international bank account number or IBAN. This has many great advantages: only one bank account will be needed for the whole euro area. If a person is working abroad he or she will not need a new bank account in that country and may receive his or her salary to the one bank account in his or her own home country.

SEPA will also make it possible to use one and the same debit card anywhere in the euro area, so when you are on holiday or visiting another euro area country you will be able to benefit from these possibilities.

SEPA is good news at present concerning the euro and the EU. It will open up national markets to competition and make the payment sector more effective. According to an impact study published by the Commission, SEPA will benefit the European economy by EUR 123 billion over the next six years. The benefits will be even greater because SEPA creates favourable conditions for innovations such as automatically combining payments with the book-keeping of a company. This is the case in Finland and in other countries such as the Netherlands, which started implementing SEPA at a very early stage.

Easy payments also make it very easy to buy goods and services via the internet from all over the EU. Consumers will have real options to compare prices and get the best price. Buying a computer from the cheapest EU retailer may save hundreds of euros, making prices go down everywhere in the single market. Therefore SEPA is in many ways essential for a well-functioning internal market.

Since moving to SEPA has been too slow in the past, this regulation sets a clear end-date for the transition. Parliament has succeeded in negotiating a single end date for both SEPA credit transfers and direct debits: 1 February 2014. In those Member States which do not have the euro as their currency, the date will be 30 October 2016. This will make it easier to adapt to the change and to carry out information campaigns for consumers.

Parliament has also achieved the right level of consumer protection: consumers may now instruct their banks to limit direct debit collection to certain amounts and to establish positive or negative lists of payees. It will no longer be necessary for consumers to provide banks with special BIC codes for domestic or cross-border payments after the end-date and after two years.

For ease of adaptation to the new system, several waivers provide a two-year transition period after the end-date. For example, a Member State may allow companies which use badge files sent to their payment service providers to avoid using the standard message format XML for two years. A Member State may also allow consumers to use their old bank account number instead of IBANs for two extra years.

The Payment Services Directive is being reviewed later this year; this will be an important step in finalising the entire system and ensuring that it works. On behalf of Ms Essayah, I would like to underline that we are very happy for both citizens and companies in the European Union and throughout the SEPA area that all cross-border transfers and direct debits can be done as if they were normal domestic payments. We have now managed to achieve a real single European payments area.

IN THE CHAIR: ANNI PODIMATA
Vice-President

  Michel Barnier, Member of the Commission. – (FR) Madam President, I should like to thank the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and its Chair Ms Bowles and I would ask Corien Wortmann-Kool to send my warmest thanks to Sari Essayah for her work in cooperation with your shadow rapporteurs Sophie In’t Veld, Sven Giegold and Ivari Padar.

Payment services are simply vital for our economies. Without a payments market that works at its best, the internal market cannot live up to its full potential in terms of trade and growth. The regulation we are debating aims to speed up the implementation of SEPA (the Single Euro Payments Area), as Corien Wortmann-Kool said. The SEPA project aims to develop and is in the process of developing payments services in euro which are no longer fragmented from one country to another but common to the whole of the EU, and it replaces national payment services.

This is the perfect example, honourable Members, of financial regulation for those in the real economy: SEPA will make cross-border payments as easy as domestic ones and will provide greater reliability and security for European citizens and businesses. They will benefit from increased competition in this area and — I think — from lower payment costs. This should also increase innovation and give an additional concrete dimension to the internal market.

I want to welcome the progress made in this compromise compared to the Commission’s initial proposal. This is further proof of the real usefulness of the intelligent work we have done together, as you said Ms Wortmann-Kool, particularly during the trialogues. I notice, to my delight, that many of the Commission’s texts have been improved and clarified thanks to the work of Parliament. The report from the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs prepared by Ms Essayah has therefore made a significant contribution to improving our proposal.

The new text is more favourable to consumers. I shall give you two examples: firstly, the scheduled phasing out of BIC codes from 2014, which means one less piece of information for the consumer to provide to make a transfer, whether it is a national or international transfer, and, secondly , the removal of additional charges for all cross-border payments effective as soon as the regulation enters into force.

Of course, the Commission regrets that the principle of two separate migration dates for credit transfers and direct debits has been abandoned. From our point of view, this would have helped to speed up the migration process and rewarded the most advanced Member States, providers and businesses. That being said, a single end-date should also facilitate communication on the transition to SEPA, and particularly the use of new IBAN account numbers.

Honourable Members, the Commission is therefore happy overall with the current final compromise. We are ready to look into the governance of SEPA by the end of this year — there is progress to be made — and also into the issue of consumers’ right to unconditional refunds for direct debits within the framework of the revised directive on payment services.

These two items have each been the subject of a declaration of principle, along with a third on the Commission’s use of delegated powers. As agreed, these three declarations appear in the annex of the resolution submitted to you and reflect the compromise reached in December word for word.

In conclusion, Mr President, with this regulation we are providing the payments market with the legal framework it needs. We are contributing to the creation of a truly integrated payments market in euro in the EU. Finally, we are providing European citizens and businesses with a market where payments will be made throughout the whole of the EU as quickly and efficiently as national payments, in a completely reliable way and I believe that, thanks to increased competition, this will lead to lower costs.

This is the third point we have discussed since the start of this afternoon which represents concrete progress for the single market, both for citizens and for businesses.

  Evelyne Gebhardt, rapporteur for the opinion of the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection. – (DE) Madam President, the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection has also deliberated in detail on the Single Euro Payments Area, or SEPA, because this issue is very much concerned with consumer protection. I can state that I am very happy with the compromise reached, because it also incorporates some of the topics adopted by us in committee. It is a very good thing that we can say to consumers that we are thinking of them, too, in the area of the financial markets, because they do not always get that impression.

Borders for payment transactions are borders in Europe. It is time that these were removed, so that they no longer stand in the way of European mobility. I very much welcome the fact that it has been established that, in future, all enterprises and consumers will be able to make euro payment transactions in other European countries from a single account at any bank. This is very important, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises. Not just for enterprises, though, but also for consumers who are mobile, who go on holiday and who want to make credit transfers. It is also very good that we have ensured that there is a single migration date for credit transfers and direct debits. It would not have been good for consumers to have two different dates, as that would have resulted in greater confusion. Clarity and legal certainty – that is what we need, and that is what we have achieved here.

My third and last point concerns the information given to citizens. That is also extremely important. A great many of them are afraid of this new SEPA number, of the new IBAN code, because it seems too long to them. If we tell them quite clearly how it is composed, however, then they will not find it so difficult and complicated at all. In other words, it is very important that we have an information campaign so that people know what this is all about.

  Ivari Padar, on behalf of the S&D Group. – (ET) Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, firstly I would like to thank the rapporteur, Mrs Essayah, for her truly masterful and determined work. I would also like to thank all of the shadow rapporteurs. This report is an excellent example of how applying the Community method can achieve truly progressive results that further advance a common noble idea.

The organisation of cross-border settlements in euros was badly in need of common rules and understandings. The existing chaos, in which Member States used different approaches and rates, was detrimental to the consumer and clouded the spirit of the single market. At the same time, during all of this work one had to take into consideration the existing regulations in different Member States and seek compromises.

It is clear that every change has its price, and it takes time to adjust to changes. The Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament comprehensively based its activities on the objectives of European Union regulations, while at the same time emphasising the importance of defending functioning local practices that reach the consumer. It is for this reason that we have supported a single date in the implementation of the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA). Here I would particularly like to emphasise some aspects proposed by the S&D Group over which agreements have been reached.

First, the topic of possible prices or price rises. Regardless of the fact that increasing competition in this sector should lead to lower prices, we recommended that the Commission should be particularly attentive in the initial phase of implementing the regulation. Second, administration of the SEPA was formerly solely under the control of the banks, whereas the regulation emphasises the importance of involving all parties in management and supervision. Third, the non-compulsory nature of bank identifier codes or long codes in domestic payments as of 1 February 2014 and in cross-border payments from 1 February 2016.

Fourth, the smooth transition from the basic bank account number (BBAN) domestic standard to the international bank account number (IBAN) international standard.

Fifth, the validity of old mandates, which has in all honesty saved us from possible legal ambiguities and was also altogether rational.

Sixth, the transition period applied to large-scale domestic systems. In conclusion I would like to say that the SEPA is a very good example of how collective effort achieves progress in a manner in which all parties win. It has been estimated that clients, banks and companies could save up to EUR 123 billion over six years thanks to the SEPA. This is certainly worthy of joint action, and we should have other similar undertakings in the future. Thank you very much for your attention.

  Sophia in 't Veld, on behalf of the ALDE Group. – Madam President, first of all my thanks to the rapporteur who is, I understand, stuck at Schipol airport. She did a very good job. I will not go into the details of the proposals because the rapporteur’s representative has set out all the expected benefits from SEPA. I would instead like to focus on the process that has taken place.

Quite frankly, if you listen to the benefits that we expect to get from SEPA, it is completely incomprehensible why it has to take so long, why there are such long transition periods and why there are so many exemptions. We are in the middle of an economic crisis. We all agree that we need to complete the internal market, and I am really worried at how something relatively minor, like SEPA credit transfers and direct debits, can take so long and be so difficult.

I understand that people will have to get used to new systems, but if you look at what we are asking of our Greek fellow-citizens, if you look at the changes in the Arab Spring, do we really think that changing from 12 to 18 digits in a bank account number is the main worry in the European Union? Sorry, but we need to change, Europe needs to change. We need to complete the internal market; we need to strengthen our economic position in the world.

Payments are the lubricant of the single market, certainly with a view to e-commerce, and therefore I hope that all the Member States will meet the deadlines, which are very generous. I also hope that when we talk about new payment methods, which we are going to look at next, the process will be speedier than it has been so far.

  Sven Giegold, on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group. – (DE) Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, may I first express my thanks – to you, too, Mr Barnier – for the cooperative manner in which our deliberations were conducted. The background to this report is, of course, that for a single market Europe needs a Single Euro Payments Area. This has shown how long it takes when people refuse and delay European standards instead of creating them together. As Ms in 't Veld quite rightly said, all this could actually have been done faster; we could probably have achieved something for consumers more quickly, and it did not need to take this long for small and medium-sized enterprises to get the necessary standard.

The big question now is what will happen with regard to the right of return. Here in Parliament, we wanted the right to return direct debits to be unconditional. Thankfully, that is the next thing the Commission is to look into. However, it is important that the unconditional return rights can remain at national level, because on that basis Germany can avoid the chaos inherent in migrating several hundred million existing direct debits.

Secondly, it is equally important that Parliament has succeeded in ensuring that the electronic direct debit process in Germany, which is already established and which saves millions every year, can be Europeanised.

Last but not least, it is also important that democracy will prevail in respect of payment flows in future. Thank you, Mr Barnier, for having accepted our proposal that the European Payment Council should no longer act alone in setting standards, but that instead payment transactions should be included in the democratic sphere. I look forward to further work in this area.

  Nikolaos Chountis, on behalf of the GUE/NGL Group. – (EL) Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the debate we are holding perhaps appears to be taking place at the wrong place and at the wrong time. I may have this impression due to the resolutions passed by the Greek Parliament yesterday in dramatic circumstances, although austerity and recession are, of course, not just a Greek problem.

We are debating transfers, payments in euro, at a time when the crisis is getting worse, the recession is getting deeper and austerity is embracing entire sections of Europe, and it is somewhat ironic of us to say that we must resolve this problem at a time when European citizens and the nations of Europe possibly have no euros in their pockets. Those demanding that we move ahead with a Single Euro Payments Area are obviously the markets, the financial systems and the multinational companies, which stand to benefit directly.

Nonetheless, as we must also protect consumer rights in this environment, my comments are as follows: firstly, because the change to this system will be very costly, it should not be the citizens who pay the price, in keeping with the banks’ standard practice of passing such costs on to their customers. The report does not cover that point.

Secondly, systematic efforts should be made to inform and advise citizens and, thirdly and most importantly, because the change will also apply to e-money, we need measures, which the report does not address, to prevent fraud at the consumer’s expense. It is, I think, a good thing that we have a date and that interbank charges will be abolished. This should also apply to credit cards.

(The speaker agreed to take a blue-card question under Rule 149(8))

  Hans-Peter Martin (NI), Blue-card question. – (DE) Madam President, Mr Chountis, I was taken aback by what you just said. Is Greece so isolated that it does not perform bank transfers to other countries? Are you not simply going to end up with the same problem in the future that you had before: namely, that a lot of your countrymen emigrate and then send money back as migrant workers? Moreover, when you speak of banks being unable to make a profit any more, can you not see that this standardisation will itself actually reduce one other type of profit that the banks currently make – that from transfer fees?

  Nikolaos Chountis (GUE/NGL), Blue-card answer. – (EL) I will answer the last question first, because perhaps what I said was not correctly understood. The banks will benefit, I do not deny it. Perhaps, therefore, I have been misunderstood.

As for the rest of what you said, Mr Martin, I do not disagree, but I will put the matter on its real basis or, at least ask this: ‘what times are we living in?’ and if income is reduced, the question: ‘what economic circumstances are we living in today and what economic circumstances is the European Union in?’ becomes a very weighty question. I imagine that you cannot deny that and the fact that this recession and austerity are cutting income is not just Greece’s problem. That being so, as you saw, I addressed this issue with comments which, that given, might improve it.

  Sven Giegold (Verts/ALE), Blue-card question. – Madam President, I would just like to ask the Honourable Member one question.

Mr Chountis, I feel in full solidarity with the poor in Greece who are having to bear the cost of this crisis at the moment. I fully feel responsibility, and also co-responsibility, for the European integration project. But what I do not understand is this. You made very specific points on the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) and about what had to change, but I did not see you at the shadow meetings. We had a very open process to work on this. I did not see you or your staff. So I would like to know why you are now asking questions here on the report, when you had the responsibility and the opportunity to defend them yourself. This is doublespeak.

  Nikolaos Chountis (GUE/NGL), Blue-card answer. – (EL) Madam President, I think that my colleague has not used the correct phraseology. For various and sundry reasons, I did not participate in the procedures at which I could have expressed a first opinion. Therefore, you have not caught me out today in disagreeing by formulating a second opinion.

Secondly, my comments are very specific and I think that plenary allows us to formulate comments on reports without restriction. Therefore, I fail to understand why you should pull me up. This is not therefore doublespeak. I am making very, very specific points.

  Sampo Terho, on behalf of the EFD Group. – (FI) Madam President, basically, this is a good project, and is certainly worthy of our broad support here in Parliament. It will be far more convenient for ordinary people, but especially companies, if we can use just one set of payment details throughout Europe, and if direct debits and electronic billing are simplified. This is one of the most crucial issues in building a viable internal market.

However, a practical problem has arisen, in that, once again, some countries have been more efficient than others in implementing joint decisions. As long as only some have adopted the system, there will not be much benefit to be had from it, the basic idea will not be realised and there will not be the savings made that we had hoped for.

In fact, the system is even slightly bothersome for the citizens of countries that have introduced the changes. In my country, Finland, for example, people now have to use longer account numbers than before, which are all the more difficult to remember.

Ordinary people have had to make a small sacrifice to start using the system, and while foreign payments ought to have become as easy as domestic payments, in actual fact, domestic payments have become as difficult as foreign ones.

The reform, therefore, should not be left half-finished, and there should be no hesitation about completing it, so that the trouble it has caused will not have been in vain. On this basis, I would support an approach where the transitional periods for adopting the system must be as smooth and as short as possible.

  Hans-Peter Martin (NI). – (DE) Madam President, one recurrent demand of all those who view many things here as being too bureaucratic and too centralist has certainly always been: we need to be able to feel that Europe is a reality. I find that the very fact that we are now making decisions here together means that we are taking a step towards a European spring! Things are warming up, we are beginning to feel like leaving our homes and getting together with other people. I come from a region which has Switzerland and Germany as its immediate neighbours. Once, I had to pay a traffic fine in Lindau: DEM 5. Because I was very late responding, it went up to DEM 10. However, after all the bank transactions had been carried out, I ended up paying DEM 70: that is, seven times more than the original charge, or 14 times more, depending on how you look at it. These are the kind of trivial things which make people absolutely furious and cause them to ask: we are supposed to have something in common with our European neighbours, but what exactly? Today, we can finally get a feel for what it is we have in common, now that it is not going to cost us any extra.

Secondly, a great number of small and medium-sized enterprises have always done business abroad. Even Austrians – would you believe it? – do business abroad, in countries like Germany and the Czech Republic, in particular, but also in all other parts of the expanding Europe. Moreover, the costs of transferring money used to be far from inconsiderable. We are talking here about pretty large amounts – 0.25% of the cost of the transaction. After some painstaking negotiations, this was then reduced, in most cases, to one eighth of the transaction but, in the case of some transfers, the fee shot up even further. There was a need to run multiple accounts, which greatly complicated the whole bookkeeping process, and when the authorities wanted to make appropriate checks, they proved to be much more difficult and inefficient.

It is good that we are finally getting to the point that we are at now. However, it is also true that we wanted this to happen much earlier. This is a step in the direction in which we all want to be heading, namely having greater transparency about cash flows and joint cash flows. In that regard, I reiterate that it would make me very happy if we took more of these kinds of initiatives that would bring us this kind of European spring.

  Jean-Paul Gauzès (PPE). – (FR) Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner, you know how much I appreciate your actions and everything you are doing. The issue we are dealing with this evening is important. It happens that I was rapporteur for the directive on payment services in the previous mandate. I therefore know how important it is to work towards harmonising payment services across Europe.

This evening, allow me simply to discuss one issue which angers people: multilateral interchange fees. From the beginning, I have defended these fees and I had the opportunity to do so when we launched the first SEPA transfer in 2007. Interchange fees are legitimate. What is not legitimate is setting them at rates which are excessively high.

Why are these fees legitimate? They are legitimate because payment services are a commercial service. The institutions, that is, banks or payment institutions established under Title II of the directive I mentioned just a moment ago, must undertake commercial activity. It is therefore normal that they should receive remuneration. This must obviously be justified by the service provided and, from this point of view, interchange fees — it is true — were, for a certain period of time, set unduly high.

However, today, things have changed and the situation we are arriving at thanks to this new text, this regulation, is something of a paradox. Firstly, this text regulates an issue which was under discussion in the Court of Justice of the European Union; it authorises interchange fees at national level until 2017. It bans them sooner for cross-border operations but allows interchange fees to operate if payment is refused or rejected. None of that is very consistent.

We must not let what has been done this time serve as an example for the coming regulation on bank cards. Reflection must be better led in this area and the fact that only six countries have resorted to using interchange fees does not mean to say that they are useless. Why? Because otherwise there is no transparency; we would pay for payment services using other means of payment, for example, cheques.

  George Sabin Cutaş (S&D). – (RO) Madam President, I support the proposal for creating an internal market for payment services in euros, as it is bound, in practical terms, to facilitate considerably the system made available to European consumers who will be able to use a single method of payment and single type of account for transferring money within the European Union. This initiative will make cross-border payment transactions more efficient, unifying a fragmented European market and yielding economic benefits. As you are aware and has been mentioned, the European Commission estimates that reducing costs means that these benefits could amount to billions of euros in six years.

I also welcome deadlines being set for migrating from the current national systems to a common system so that the transition process is not prolonged unnecessarily. I noticed how the initial strategy adopted by the European executive for transferring credit, according to which the transition was meant to be carried out by the private sector at a flexible pace, did not produce the anticipated results. Based on the figures I have available, in February 2011, two and a half years after the initiative was launched, only 15.7% of the total amount of credit transferred from the euro area was transacted using the European payments system.

Last but not least, I believe that consumers must be afforded protection throughout the whole process of migrating to the new system. This is why, Commissioner, I suggest that you produce information campaigns to which the banking sector is obliged to make an active, practical contribution.

  Dimitar Stoyanov (NI). – (BG) Madam President, despite the fact that Bulgaria is still not part of the euro area, there are some sectors in the Bulgarian economy in which contract negotiations and payments are now commonly transacted in euro. An example of one such sector is the property market and renting. Nevertheless, when someone wishes to make a transfer in Bulgaria, even from one Bulgarian bank to another, this transfer, being in a foreign currency, is considered a cross-border transaction. The result is that a fee is collected from both the payer and the recipient, which is rather high at that. For example, the total fee charged for a standard rental price of EUR 200-300 is EUR 32. This is a cost increase of 10%. I believe that if the regulation we are discussing at the moment is accepted as proposed, it will mark an important step towards abolishing this highly unfair treatment of European consumers, and especially of those who live in countries outside the euro area. However, there is another important aspect which this regulation highlights. It is that, despite all the talk that taxes, interest rates and so on can only be determined by market conditions, with the proposals made in this regulation, we are proving that these items can be determined by legal acts. This is the proof for accepting this act here in Europe, and this is the direction we must follow

  Othmar Karas (PPE). – (DE) Madam President, a common internal market requires a common currency and a common currency requires a payments area. The implementation of these three objectives has faced a very rocky road in many cases and there remain some who are still opposed to it. That is why the European Parliament and the Council are finishing off the job properly today. The deadline for the completion of the Single Euro Payments Area in the euro area is 1 February 2014 and 30 October 2016 is the deadline for countries within the European Union that are outside the euro area. It is true that we could be moving more quickly than this, but we need to realise that, from now on, entrepreneurs will no longer be required to set up a separate account in every Member State in which they operate. We are on course for a situation where a citizen of one Member State will be able to work in another Member State and, at the same time, have his wages paid directly into his home bank account, where we will be able to save EUR 1 billion and where the interbank fee will effectively be abolished. For that reason, with this decision today, we have done a great deal for consumers and increased the added value of membership of the European Union.

The President and I have shared the responsibility for the information and communication work. This is a good example of why there needs to be a European Union and what benefits our citizens get from it. We are not only making savings, we are also facilitating access and have, at the same time, been able to effectively save the chargeback and maintain electronic direct debits and, what is more, none of the old payment orders have needed changing. This is a good compromise and, at the same time, a step forward.

  Monika Flašíková Beňová (S&D). – (SK) Madam President, the creation of an integrated market for electronic payments in euros, with no fundamental distinction between national and cross-border payments, is essential for the proper functioning of the internal market. Although this initiative from the Commission could have come earlier, we are pleased to have it here.

The aim of the Single Euro Payments Area project is to develop common EU-wide payment devices to replace current national payment devices. SEPA should provide EU citizens and businesses with secure, user-friendly and reliable payment services in euros at competitive prices. It can also be expected that there will be space for the creation of favourable conditions for increased competition in payment services and the unlimited development and rapid implementation of innovations relating to payments. This should lead to increased savings, due in particular to enhanced operating efficiency.

At the same time, this will create an across-the-board downward price pressure, which should have significant effects in particular in Member States where payments are relatively expensive in comparison with other countries. The success of SEPA is very important from the economic, monetary and, of course, political perspectives. It is fully in line with the Europe 2020 strategy, which aims at a smarter economy. It therefore seems reasonable and important to achieve a smooth and rapid transition to SEPA. The Single Payments Area is a good example of a common EU-wide approach and is also beneficial for our citizens.

  Andreas Mölzer (NI). – (DE) Madam President, technological progress and the Single European Payments Area will certainly have benefits, such as better liquidity planning, achieved through SEPA information about the exact date of a debit, or shorter bank transfer periods – which, incidentally, will mean that any additional profit which might have been earned by the banks evaporates – or the fact that credit cards can be used throughout Europe, not only at cash points, but also to make payments.

IBAN and BIC may, indeed, have their benefits, but they are more complicated and many people, especially the elderly, are not very familiar with them. Therefore, I welcome the fact that Parliament has committed to retaining existing direct debits. In particular, in the light of the massive increase in cyber crime involving allegedly free online offers which often turn out to cost the consumer a great deal, attacks by hackers, the theft of personal data and, above all, phishing for bank details, all of which cause serious financial losses, it is, in my view, all the more important that the unconditional right to cancel direct debits is retained.

However, if we are to strengthen confidence in the Single Euro Payments Area, we also need to tackle the problem of faults in cheap software for banking transactions carried out via smartphones. It is, after all, supposed to be providers who take responsibility for credit card fraud, not customers. Likewise, banks, too, should take responsibility, where necessary, for faults in their technical systems.

Catch-the-eye procedure

  Sergio Paolo Francesco Silvestris (PPE). – (IT) Madam President, Commissioner, this is a further, significant step forward, because the Single Euro Payments Area will, as from the fateful date of 1 February 2014, represent the end of a journey that began with the common market and in which the single currency was an important stopping point.

It gives us an important economic advantage – as the Commissioner, to whom I am grateful for this, pointed out – which will result in cost savings of a billion euros a year compared to now, and which also represents a huge advantage for consumers. For this reason, the Single Euro Payments Area represents a welcome step forward for the Community method, which is at the very heart of this Parliament just as it is at the heart of my country.

  Silvia-Adriana Ţicău (S&D). – (RO) Madam President, the Single Euro Payments Area is vital to the completion of the internal market. Thanks to the close link between invoices and payments, the Single Euro Payments Area provides a platform for an interoperable European e-invoicing system. The large-scale adoption of e-invoicing will encourage, in turn, the migration of financial instruments to the Single Euro Payments Area.

To ensure that these mutual benefits are achieved, the e-invoicing standard must conform to ISO standard 20022 for financial services messages, which is used in the Single Euro Payments Area. Similarly, both e-invoicing and the Single Euro Payments Area should be integrated into the public online payment systems developed by the public authorities in Member States and by European Union institutions. I call on the Commissioner to provide more details about the above-mentioned developments.

  Elena Băsescu (PPE). – (RO) Madam President, Europe needs reliable and efficient payment systems to ensure the proper functioning of the single market. National plans are unable to provide sufficient impetus to achieve a rapid, complete migration to the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA). SEPA is the basic component used to create an internal payments market. It will help cut costs and enable significant savings to be made. For example, the potential benefits from SEPA could amount to EUR 300 billion within six years.

It is important to set a common deadline for the migration of direct debits and credit transfers in euros. At the same time, multilateral interchange fees for direct debits need to be regulated. However, I think that greater efforts need to be made to promote SEPA products actively.

  Jaroslav Paška (EFD). – (SK) Madam President, the functioning of the EU internal market without the dismantling of borders in the banking sector would certainly be problematic. Therefore, efforts to create a single European system for carrying out transactions by moving from national to international standards is an understandable change that will simplify payments within the European Union for our citizens and companies.

The fact that, from 2014, citizens of the euro area and, from November 2016, citizens of other EU countries will carry out cross-border payment orders and direct debits in the European Union under the same conditions as at the national level is, I think, a natural expression of integration and the building of a common market that our citizens and businesses will certainly welcome.

I therefore hope that the application of the proposed changes creating the Single Euro Payments Area will not run into administrative or economic obstacles in the banking sector that would complicate its introduction.

  Zofija Mazej Kukovič (PPE). - (SL) Mr President, thanks are due to the rapporteur for an excellent piece of work and for simplifying and explaining so well the payment services provided by SEPA.

Twenty--three million small and medium-sized enterprises will certainly be very happy to be able to save money and at the same time enjoy good new conditions for growth.

However, at the moment, it is causing me some concern. All this requires a good quality IT platform and of course, a high level of reliability and security. But today, the failure of the banking system, in parallel with protests over this legislation, has shown us that major disruption can happen even here.

Therefore, I can only call for more attention to be paid to this area.

  Janusz Władysław Zemke (S&D). - (PL) Madam President, I have a question for the Commissioner. In my view the issue is straightforward as regards countries that currently use the euro. However, in the European Union there are also countries that want to join the euro area. In addition, there are countries that say very consistently that they will keep their national currency. In this light, Commissioner, my question is this: can we be certain that these regulations, which are to apply to all of the EU in 2016 – this is to take place on 30 October of that year – will also apply to the United Kingdom? After all we are well aware that the UK banking system plays a very important role in Europe.

(End of the catch-the-eye procedure)

  Michel Barnier, Member of the Commission. – (FR) Madam President, I will try to respond clearly and simply to each and every one of you.

First of all, I would like to thank Ms Gebhardt for reminding us of the improvements made to the Commission’s initial text thanks to Parliament, particularly in terms of consumer protection.

Furthermore, I want to tell Ms Gebhardt and each and every one of you that, with regard to financial services, one of my main priorities for 2012 will be consumer protection. You will see in the revised directive that Mr Gauzès knows a great deal about financial products, UCITS and insurance mediation. Another second priority will concern ‘shadow banking’, but that is another issue. Consumer protection will be a priority.

Since I am talking about protecting consumers and information, I should like to say to Mr Cutaş, Mr Padar, Mr Chountis and Mr Terho — Mr Padar spoke about change — that it really is a change, even a cultural change that we are speeding up and facilitating. We must therefore inform some people and I think I can say that the banks are committed to this task of providing information, including for the security of consumers.

I would also say to Mr Padar, as well as to Ms Mazej Kukovič, who just spoke, that I will follow and that we will follow the implementation of this regulation with great attention, with our desire to work with the banks and ensure proper implementation.

I also want to say that I am very interested in improving the governance of the SEPA system, particularly so that consumers have their place and they know that I am concerned about this issue. Ms in 't Veld said: why does it need so much time? You know, Ms in’t Veld, that the Commission wanted to move faster and we three (the Commission, Parliament and the Council) are working together. We therefore had to find a compromise which I believe is fair but nonetheless dynamic. Mr Giegold recalled that we have set an end-date for the euro area for 2014, as did Mr Karas just a moment ago.

I would also like to say to Mr Giegold and Ms Ţicău that this task that we are speeding up for SEPA is linked to another task on which the Commission has just presented an action plan with regard to e-commerce. This gives me the opportunity to tell Ms Ţicău that we will work on some extremely technical issues which concern online consumers in terms of e-invoicing, electronic signatures and payment security. I am currently working in great detail with my colleagues Mr Dalli and Ms Kroes on all of these technical obstacles to encourage the development of e-commerce.

Mr Chountis made a reference, which I understand, to the serious situation and difficulties facing his fellow Greek citizens. I will not, at this stage, return to today’s debate on the efforts we must all make to turn things around. I believe simply, Mr Chountis, that your country, which I know well and which I respect, is one of those countries in the EU which is most interested in good economic integration so as to facilitate payments.

Your country has foundations and that is why we must trust its ability to recover from its difficulties through its own effort and through the very important solidarity effort led by all European countries. However, when we look at Greece’s economic fundamentals, particularly in terms of tourism, tourism development and trade, it can be seen that Greece is one of the countries which is most interested in proper integration into the single market.

Mr Martin mentioned the question of refunds for ordinary automatic direct debits. This text has already responded to this issue. What more can we do, Mr Martin? This is an issue that I am determined to examine, as you wished, within the framework of revising the directive on payments and their consequences.

Mr Gauzès, as always, asked very pertinent questions and one question in particular which angers people with regard to multilateral interchange fees. I think I can say that we have presented a text which offers a fair solution, which provides for the eventual removal of these fees, which are not favourable to consumers as they entail certain hidden costs and can result in causing retail prices to rise and which are often paid by direct debit — I am thinking about water and electricity.

At the same time, Mr Gauzès, the text recognises that banning these flat-rate multilateral fees applied in six Member States could represent a problem for some banks which have benefited from them up to now. That is why we have provided for a transition period, as you mentioned, up to 2017. I would like to say, so that we are completely clear, that this has no bearing on what will be done or what should or could be done with regard to bank cards, as you yourself hoped.

Mr Mölzer mentioned the regulation for consumers and the security that we owe them. I want to remind you that this regulation will strengthen consumers’ rights in order to allow them to limit the amount and periodicity of each automatic direct debit and block any direct debit which benefits specified individuals or companies.

Furthermore, the payment service provider will check each direct debit if the corresponding mandate does not provide for the right to a refund. What I have just said is a little complicated but it confirms, Mr Mölzer, the desire to establish better security for consumers.

I fully understood Mr Stoyanov’s question on the domestic case of internal direct debits within a country. Mr Stoyanov, as I have no answer to your question, I will send you a written answer after having investigated the point that you raised.

Mr Paška, Ms Băsescu and Mr Silvestris highlighted the savings this project represents for consumers and businesses and they are quite right. Ms Flašíková Beňová mentioned the framework in favour of competitiveness and I think that she too is right.

Lastly, I should like to thank Mr Karas for emphasising the added value it represents. This is now the third point we have discussed just today which represents progress and added value for the internal market, as Mr Karas said.

Finally, I would like to say to Mr Zemke that the project concerns all payments in euro within the European Union and not only in euro area countries. This project concerns all payments in euro within the European Union, not only countries that are currently part of the euro area.

I would like to finish, Madam President, by mentioning Ms Essayah’s work and I would like to thank her again for the quality of her report.

  President. – The debate is closed.

The vote will take place at 12:00 tomorrow, Tuesday, 14 February 2012.