On 2 October, EBC took part in the online meeting of the EU Payment Observatory Stakeholder Forum.
Ms. Antonella Correra, Senior Policy Officer with the European Commission’s DG GROW, offered some introductory remarks on the current state of the Observatory’s work. A presentation followed on the ongoing Project on financial literacy literacy and credit management skills to combat late payments, by the NGO Bantani Education specialized on entrepreneurial life-long learning. After exchanges with participants, the representatives of CEPS and EY provided relevant project updates on the ongoing and concluded work on Data collection, the Thematic report on G2B transactions, and the Observatory’s Annual report.
Special mention was also made to findings from the European Payment Report 2024, published by the credit management firm Intrum earlier this year. The report shows that European businesses are owed more than 10 trillion, summing up to 30% of Europe’s GDP. Companies are losing more than a quarter of the working year (73 days) chasing late payments, a weight pressing especially heavy on SMEs, notably in the construction sector.
In this context, EBC calls upon EU institutions to continue the work on the legislative proposal for a Late Payment Regulation initiated a year ago and urges both co-legislators to continue the legislative work. We look forward to working with the new rapporteur and shadow rapporteurs following their expected appointment and encourage MEPs to uphold the European Parliament’s ambitious and firm position, as voted in first reading by its plenary before the elections. At the same time, we encourage the competent Minsters across Member States to further pursue negotiations in the Council towards reaching a General Approach on the file, as inscribed in the programme of the Hungarian Presidency, as well as the during the upcoming Polish Presidency as of January 2025.
To read the latest EBC article on the EP Plenary vote on the Late Payment Regulation, click here To read the EBC Press Release on IMCO vote on the Late Payment Regulation, click here To consult EBC’s feedback on the proposal for a Late Payment Regulation, click here To consult the EBC position paper on the Revision of the Late payment directive, click here |