BEUC NEWS - 25.05.2022

Last week was an intense one as the European consumer movement met in Brussels to celebrate the BEUC’s 60th anniversary. With the motto ‘60 years young, 60 years strong’, the celebrations were an opportunity to take stock of the consumer movement’s achievements over the past six decades and to look forward to protecting consumers for another 60 years.

Here are the highlights:

On 17 May, we hosted our General Assembly, where European Commissioner for Justice and Consumers Didier Reynders delivered a speech. Mr Reynders praised consumer groups’ achievements and highlighted how important it is to stand by consumers in times of crisis and in an ever-digitalised society. Read the full speech here.

In the evening, we hosted a cocktail reception, with European Commission Executive Vice President Frans Timmermans as our guest of honour.

The Commissioner in charge of the Green Deal reflected upon how consumers groups across Europe have grown over the last 60 years into a strong movement, and how it has been working with the Commission. The speech put an emphasis on the green transition and how the consumer movement is instrumental to making it happen. Check out excerpts from the speech on our Twitter feed or on our video channel.

BEUC’s Director General Monique Goyens went on to present our anniversary brochure. Browse our publication for some facts and figures about how European consumer groups have improved the everyday life of Europeans over the past 60 years.

It was followed by a lively panel about ‘BEUC as a partner’, with six guests representing EU institutions, civil society, industry and academia. Panellists exchanged about how they have been cooperating with BEUC over the years, highlighting what they think are the main challenges for consumer groups. They were Christel Delberghe  (Director General of EuroCommerce), Evelyne Gebhardt (former Member of the European Parliament), Bernhard Url (Director of the European Food Safety Authority), Jeremy Wates (Secretary General of the European Environmental Bureau), Wojciech Wiewiórowski (European Data Protection Supervisor), and Prof. Hans Micklitz (Professor of Economic Law at the European University Institute).

Finally, that week was a moment to reflect on what we've been up to last year. A lot, as our 2021 annual report shows.

The party is not over yet, as we will keep celebrating the BEUC network’s anniversary throughout the year. Stay tuned with #BEUC60 on social media.

ENDS