The European Consumer Summit 2024, held this year under the theme "Shaping the future together", was opened by the Vice-President of the European Commission and the European Commissioner for Values and Transparency, Ms. Věra Jourová. The round table and the ceremonial signing of the commitment on sustainable consumption were followed by six high-profile workshops on socio-economic dimensions and inclusion, sustainable consumption, digital and advanced technologies, international dimensions of consumer policies, regulatory compliance and enforcement, and a fair single market that will work for both the consumers and the providers.

Mr. Verbič attended the key meeting regarding consumer protection in the EU, organized annually by the European Commission, also as a member of the Expert Advisory Group of the Financial Services User Group at the European Commission (FSUG), at the invitation of the European Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Didier Reynders, with whom he had also met at the last year's summit. As per usual, the VZMD President took this opportunity to conduct meetings and talks with many of the 570 invited stakeholders (pictured with the head of the legal department at the Slovene Consumers' Association (ZPS), Ms. Petra Lovišček), as well as many others, with whom he spoke in between the events and the ministerial meetings which took place in Brussels during that time (pictured with Mr. Dejan Židan, the State Secretary for Internal Market, Sport and Wood Industry). The summit and lively events provided numerous opportunities for informal talks as Belgium holds the presidency of the EU Council. The day before the conference a joint dinner took place, and the conference concluded with a reception and networking.

Prior to this, Mr. Verbič attended the EU Circular Economy Forum which, as part of the WCEF 2024, took place under the slogan "Beyond Experimentation - Europe's leading role in mainstreaming circular practice", and was attended by 355 people from 52 countries. As a member of the BETTER FINANCE's Executive Board, he also attended the international conference of this prestigious federation which houses 40 national organizations of shareholders, investors, and financial services users from all EU countries, and represents 5 million individual investors. As the European elections approach, this year's conference took place under the title "Breathing New Life into the Capital Markets Union | A Blueprint for the Next EU Parliament.". The next meeting will take place at the end of May in Vilnius, Lithuania, and will include the conference and the General Assembly, as well as the meetings of various boards of this influential European federation.

The VZMD estimated that this year's meetings and events would be extremely important in terms of protecting the rights and interests of consumers and individual investors, which is why the Association had decided that Mr. Verbič would not have the time to participate in the scheduled and – especially in the context of the efforts of the international business-investor programs Invest to Slovenia - investo.si and International Investors` Network - investo.international – important economic delegation accompanying the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia, Ms. Tanja Fajon, during her visit to China.  

www.vzmd.si – More on the VZMD – PanSlovenian Investors & Stakeholders Association

www.vzmd.tv and www.investo.tv – Over 300 videos from VZMD.TV and investo.tv

www.investo.si – More on the investo.si – Invest to Slovenia Program

www.investo.international – More on the network of 75 national organizations of shareholders and investors