Independent MEP Nicu Ștefănuță (Green Group/ALE), vice-president of the European Parliament, addressed a question to the European Commission regarding the effective access of Romanian consumers to compensation following the sanctions announced by the Competition Council against several banks for violating competition rules.
The initiative comes after the Romanian Competition Council announced the sanctioning of ten credit institutions with fines totaling 3.73 billion lei, approximately 710 million euros, for violating competition rules, including Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. According to the authority, the banks would have coordinated their behavior in the procedure for establishing the ROBOR index.
“ROBOR was, for many years, one of the main indicators used to calculate variable interest rates on loans granted to the population and companies in Romania. In this context, the possible effects of some anti-competitive practices could affect a very large number of consumers”, it is shown in a statement sent by Nicu Ştefănuţă.
MEP says that “Romanians who paid higher rates due to possible anti-competitive practices must have real access to compensation”.
“It is not normal that every injured consumer is forced to start a long, expensive and difficult process alone to recover their money. If it is confirmed that there is a damage that affects hundreds of thousands of people, the possibility of them being compensated directly, without having to open individual actions in court, must be analyzed. The right to compensation must be a real and accessible one, not just a theoretical one”said Nicu Ştefănuţă.
Through the question addressed to the European Commission, Nicu Ştefănuță requests clarifications regarding the possibility of granting direct compensation to consumers, without obliging them to initiate individual legal actions, in the event that the violation of European competition rules is definitively confirmed and the existence of a prejudice is established.
Also, the vice-president of the European Parliament asks the Commission to clarify whether obliging each affected consumer to initiate an individual action in court is compatible with the principle of effectiveness of European Union law and with the right to effective reparation of the damage.
The MEP also asks if the European Executive intends to promote or recommend to the member states mechanisms that allow the collective, simplified and effective compensation of consumers affected by anti-competitive practices, including in situations where they have influenced the cost of loans borne by the population.
“It is not enough for the state to issue fines. If people have paid more due to unfair practices, then there must be a way to get their money back. European support is also needed here, because Armenians should not be left alone in front of cumbersome, expensive and difficult procedures to complete“, Nicu Ştefănuţă also conveyed in the press release.
Nicu Ştefănuţă is an independent MEP. He is the first Romanian MEP affiliated with the political group of the Greens in the European Parliament (Greens / EFA) and vice-president of the European Parliament. He is currently a member of the Committee for Budgets and the Committee for Industry, Research and Energy.
The Sibiu MEP also acts as a substitute member in the Commission for Agriculture and Rural Development and the Commission for Public Health.
