On May 4, the European executive came up with a new online publication, 'Fin Focus', aimed at improving EU citizens and businesses' information on EU financial services policies and events, especially the ones they are the most confronted with in their daily lives. For example, the first edition covers common matters such as bank accounts and consumer and mortgage credit and payment.
Written in plain and jargon-free language, available in all 20 official EU languages, 'Fin Focus' supposedly target the broadest audience possible and is suitable for reproduction in specific 'grassroots' publications – such as consumer magazines and local press.
Internal Market and Services Commissioner Charlie McCreevy justifies this new initiative by the Commission's "commitment to increasing awareness among EU citizens of the vital policy developments in financial services being made at EU level that affect them in their everyday lives" and its efforts "to improve further the dialogue between the Commission and consumers, and gain greater input from them into our policy making."
The publication of 'Fin-Focus' is accompanied by the establishment of a permanent group of consumer representatives from across Europe (due to meet for the first time on 20 June 2006). Both initiatives are part of the Commission's ongoing efforts to better communicate and interact with consumer on financial services issues, as exemplified in the White Paper on Financial Services 2005-2010.
