Faced with a slew of reforms that could jeopardise their ability to serve their communities, members of the European Network of Credit Unions (ENCU) have spent the past two weeks urging various European Union (EU) policymakers to give credit unions proportional treatment on several issues that will be debated during the European Parliament's legislative term.
ENCU led the virtual outreach effort in collaboration with officials from the offices of Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), the Member States in the Council of the European Union, DG FISMA, DG JUST, and other European Union offices.
ENCU is made up of eight European credit union associations and the World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU), and it serves as a platform for countries to exchange information, ideas, and strategies, as well as speak with a unified voice on European policy and regulatory issues affecting credit unions.
ENCU is trying to guarantee that the credit union concept is recognised in the proposed changes being considered by Parliament. Among the topics at stake in this legislative session are:
the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), which seeks to impose new operational resilience and reporting requirements;
the Consumer Credit Directive, which seeks to overhaul lending disclosures;
Sustainable Finance, which seeks to aid in the transition to a sustainable economy;
and the EU Banking Package, which seeks to strengthen oversight of EU banks.
"While many of these changes have been welcomed, such as the Consumer Credit Directive, which will bring disclosures in line with modern digitalization developments, and the European Commission's consideration of expanding the taxonomy on Sustainable Finance to include social factors, we must ensure that the not-for-profit credit union cooperative model is considered in these reforms so that we can continue to provide inclusive economic growth for EU citizens," said Andrew P.
Representatives from the following organisations took part in this outreach effort:
Irish Credit Union League (ILCU);
Poland's National Association of Cooperative Savings and Credit Unions (NACSCU);
EUCC (Estonian Union of Credit Cooperatives);
Croatian Credit Union Association;
FULM (North Macedonian Credit Union Movement);
FEDCAR (Federation of Romanian Credit Unions);
Dutch Credit Union Cooperation Association (VSK).
Representatives from WOCCU International Advocacy joined the initiative to give their perspectives on how European Union policies might be proportionally adjusted to allow credit unions to thrive in Europe.