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The summer break has resulted in a prestigious award in the field of consumer policy for Cittadinanzattiva at national and European level, that is the election of its Director of European Affairs as a new full member of the European Consumer Consultative Group for the next three years.

He will be in charge of representing the Italian consumer organisations within the Group, which is known to be composed of just one representative for each Member State, plus a representative for each of the two European consumer organisations accredited by the EU Commission.
In Europe, the Group has solid, long-term experience within the panorama of consultative bodies, having been established by the Commission since 2003 to be consulted by the Commission itself on issues concerning the protection of consumers' interests in the European Union. In a nutshell, the Group represents European consumers and the Commission may consult it on the issues faced by consumers within the EU.
The Commission's Decision (C/2016/5417) regarding the designation of the members of the aforementioned Group and their deputies dates back to 18th August 2016, while the parties concerned  were notified at the beginning of September. They will have the opportunity to meet in person in October, on the occasion of their first meeting in Brussels.
The European Commission has basically ratified the indication coming from competent National Authorities: for Italy the designation has indeed occurred within the National Council of Consumers and Users (CNCU), an advisory body to the Minister of Economic Development, which has later liaised with the European Institutions to finalise the necessary formalities.
As for Italy, although the decision had been known to insiders since March, Cittadinanzattiva decided to wait for its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union to announce the election to his foreign and Italian interlocutors.
Therefore, it is about time to thank the leaders of consumer organisations in the CNCU for their trust and for the innovative choice they have made. Surprisingly, for the first time, the Italian consumer associations have not indicated a CNCU Adviser to the European Consumer Consultative Group, but professionals whose ordinary work environment is deeply involved in the European dimension: indeed, Mariano Votta, executive of Cittadinanzattiva, is the Director of ACN -Active Citizenship network, a European network of more than 100 civic, users’ and patient organisations, which was established by Cittadinanzattiva in 2001; Flavia Cavalero, executive of Federconsumatori, is chairman of ECU-European Consumers Union, a young European consumer organisation.
As a whole, the choice basically rewards the Italian associations that have mainly invested in the European dimension.
Our congratulations and best wishes go to the newly elected members Votta (full member) and Cavalero (deputy) for a successful and fruitful work. We believe that their appointments will also avoid conflicts of interest and facilitate greater collaboration in Italy in the field of consumer policy.
Their designation, as already mentioned, is a small but significant breakthrough, which also encourages us to believe in Europe. Indeed, Europe should be reformed but not abandoned, as we are convinced that the European institutions will enormously benefit from an increasing civic leadership, and the same goes for the European consumerist context, which cannot lean on just two European consumer organisations - however capable they may be - for a long time, but sooner or later it will need to open up and embrace a plurality of voices, experiences and new instances.

Antonio Gaudioso, Secretary General at Cittadinanzattiva Onlus
Tina Napoli, Director of Consumer Affairs at Cittadinanzattiva Onlus

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