Today, the European Parliament’s committee on economic and monetary affairs voted on the payment services legislation that will bring tangible benefits to all Europeans. Under the leadership of the Socialists and Democrats, the parliament adopted a very progressive position on this law with the aim of better protecting people against falling victim to fraud when making payments. 

The next step is the confirmation of this position at the plenary, which is expected in April.  

Marek Belka, S&D vice-president and European Parliament’s rapporteur on the payment services regulation, said: 

“The main objective of this new legislation is to make our payments more user friendly, cheaper and safer. We all make payments every day, or withdraw money from an ATM – for example to buy food, clothes, and tickets for a concert – so this matters to all of us. 

“Above all, we want to better protect people against impersonation fraud. Two things are crucial here. First, the burden of addressing the fraud should lie with banks, not consumers. Second, banks should not be the only ones responsible for consumers’ protection. Online platforms should be liable too. For instance, if Meta makes money from ads on its platform, it should also take responsibility if those ads are fraudulent. 

“Here is one concrete example of how this new law benefits citizens: we demand ATMs to provide upfront information about the cost of a transaction. Furthermore, we request banks to provide a better service to consumers to ensure easy and quick access to a communication channel with personal human support to notify about fraudulent transactions. We also ask online platforms to contribute to education campaigns to enhance consumers’ awareness.

“Although our primary mission is to better protect people against fraud, this is not a black-and-white battle of consumers versus banks. It is much more complex. We want to protect European citizens and at the same time support European banks and uplift European fintechs. 

“Today, we demonstrated that we care for Europeans and once again we proved Orbán, president of Hungary, Kaczyński, PiS leader, and other EU opponents wrong. The EU does work and it works for all of us.”

Notes to editors: 

The European Parliament’s committee on economic and monetary affairs today voted on the payment services package consisting of the first ever payment services regulation and the revised payments services directive. Vice-president Belka is the European Parliament's rapporteur on the regulation and S&D negotiator on the revised directive. 

The regulation was necessary to address the fragmentation of payments services in the EU due to different levels of compliance with the directive.