Overview
The Consumer Agenda 2025-2030 is an upcoming policy initiative under the responsibility of the Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers (DG JUST), led by Commissioner Michael McGrath. The file will be handled by the Justice and Home Affairs Council (JHA) in the Council. This overview is based on the provided institutional handling details and stakeholder outreach data.
Institutional handling
The initiative falls under DG JUST, with Commissioner Michael McGrath as the responsible Commissioner. The Council configuration that will examine the proposal is the Justice and Home Affairs Council (JHA).
Stakeholder reactions
Extensive stakeholder engagement has taken place, with 29 meetings recorded between stakeholders and EU institutions: 4 with Members of the European Parliament, 19 with Commissioners, and 6 with European Commission staff. These interactions involved 12 distinct organisations. The most active stakeholders include International Airlines Group (IAG), Aer Lingus, the Bureau Européen des Unions de Consommateurs (BEUC), the Confederation of Finnish Industries EK, and the Bureau Européen des Unions de Consommateurs Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverband.
On the topic of EU Competition policy, Aer Lingus strongly supports the Commission’s focus on competitiveness, aligning with objectives to support business scale and cooperation. Similarly, International Airlines Group (IAG) strongly supports this focus, emphasizing its alignment with supporting business scale and coordination.
Regarding Financial regulation, BEUC opposes a permissive approach, favoring stricter rules, with an emphasis on fostering competition, improving consumer financial literacy, and ensuring robust supervision. In contrast, BVI – Bundesverband Investment und Asset Management e.V. supports more permissive rules, criticizing the lack of harmonization and conflicting requirements as problematic.
On EU Single Market harmonisation, BVI – Bundesverband Investment und Asset Management e.V. strongly supports removing barriers, arguing that the lack of harmonisation creates duplicating and conflicting rules.