WOCCU Coordinates Credit Union Breakfast Seminar in European Parliament

The World Council of Credit Unions, Inc. (WOCCU) and its European members from Ireland, Great Britain, Poland and Romania held the first ever breakfast seminar in Brussels, Belgium on October 6th for members of the European Parliament. The event was co-hosted by Brian Crawley and Marian Harkin, both Irish members of the European Parliament, and was held within Parliament.

The primary purpose of the breakfast seminar was to expand the knowledge base of European Parliament members and officials within the European Commission with respect to credit unions. Attendance was strong and a vigorous discussion was held on the potential impact of the consumer credit directive on credit unions in the European Union (EU). Two European Parliament members currently have loans with their local credit unions, and one member indicated that it was with this loan that she was able to finance her campaign for Parliament.

"For a first of its kind event in the European Parliament for credit unions in the EU, I think the program was extremely successful," indicated Pete Crear, chief executive officer of WOCCU. "Anytime you can attract the numbers of elected officials that we did and keep them engaged in a discussion for the duration that we did, it's a huge success. The best stories of the benefits of credit unions were told by some of the Parliament members to their colleagues," continued Crear.

Credit union representatives present at the breakfast seminar included Liam O'Dwyer, Uel Adair and Noel Madden of Ireland; Grzegorz Bierecki and Pawel Grezsik of Poland; Gary Plank, Pete Crear and Dave Grace of WOCCU; Roney Hobley and Ciara Morrison of Great Britain; Florin Simion from Romania; and Eleonora Zgonjanin from Macedonia.

El Consejo Mundial de Cooperativas de Ahorro y Crédito es la asociación gremial y agencia de desarrollo para el sistema internacional de cooperativas de ahorro y crédito. El Consejo Mundial promueve el crecimiento sustentable de las cooperativas de ahorro y crédito y otras cooperativas financieras en todo el mundo a fin de facultar a las personas para que mejoren su calidad de vida a través del acceso a servicios financieros asequibles y de alta calidad. El Consejo Mundial realiza esfuerzos de defensa activa en representación del sistema global de las cooperativas de ahorro y crédito ante organizaciones internacionales y trabaja con gobiernos nacionales para mejorar la legislación y la regulación. Sus programas de asistencia técnica introducen nuevas herramientas y tecnologías para fortalecer el desempeño financiero de las cooperativas de ahorro y crédito y profundizar su alcance comunitario.

El Consejo Mundial ha implementado 290 programas de asistencia técnica en 71 países. A nivel mundial, 51,000 cooperativas de ahorro y crédito en 100 países atienden a 196 millones de personas. Obtenga más información sobre el impacto global del Consejo Mundial en www.woccu.org.