Correspondence - Consumer Rights
Caroline regularly tries to help constituents resolve consumer problems like the proper labelling of goods and misleading marketing. During her 3rd parliamentary term she was a Vice President of the Consumer Affairs Intergroup and fought for consumers rights in relation to legislation on eg telecoms services, GM foods and compensation for delayed flights.
She has also taken up case work where large numbers of constituents have been affected and pressed for better legal protection for consumers. Details about some of these are below.
Letter to the European Commission about passenger compensation rights and volcanic ash clouds 2010
Property Fraud
Since she was first elected as an MEP, Caroline has received vast numbers of complaints from constituents buying homes abroad who have had problems caused by weak property laws in other member states, as well as corruption and fraud. Although the EU has no powers to directly intervene in most cases, MEPs have responded to petitioning of the Parliament with a series of measures. These are contained in the Auken report, named for the Danish Green MEP, Margrete Auken. Greens also sought to amend the 2010 EU budget to reflect the fact that Spain in particular is in breach of a number of EU policies in its property development but this move was not supported by other political groups. Caroline will be keeping up pressure on the European Commission and member states to ensure that anyone buying a property abroad has their rights properly upheld.
Icelandic Banks
Letter to the Commission about LG bank and protection for people’s savings 2009
Letter to the Commission about KSF bank and protection for people’s savings 2008
European Cities Guide
This publication has attracted the attention of MEPs because of its use of unethical marketing techniques. Caroline lobbied the European Commission about the problem and you can read the Commissioner’s reply here. MEPs have since called on the European Commision to bring forth legislation that closes loopholes in existing law and to guide victims of scams. The Parliament have also urged member states to enforce EU law on misleading commercial practices more rigorously.
Resolution adopted November 2008
There are a number of groups campaigning to support people affected by the activities of European City Guide, including Stop the European City Guide.
