In Croatia not much is happening in terms of the new directive. The Ministry of Finance is responsible for debt advisory. The topic will be raise on the next meeting of the Operation Committee for Financial Literacy.

The Ministry of Economy has a call to consumer organizations and part of this is financial advice and counselling (not really debt advise). In March, the results of this call will be published.

The situation in France is strange, because for three months they have not had a government, and now there is a government. The Ministry of Finance, which is responsible for implementing the directive, only contacted credit institutions, and not consumer organizations.

• In France, there are two options for proceeding with the directive:
  a draft, to which the parliament can say yes or no, but without amendments;
• regular law.

Looking at the current political situation, using the first procedure will not be possible, but that is good because then we can propose changes. Then, it will really become a law for the consumer. If it is only about the transposition, it will only go through the parliament. Regarding the article 36, that there is still an ongoing discussion about what independence means. It is expected that the law will be voted next summer.

In Germany there are about 1,500 debt advisory centers in Germany, but they usually have only one person + one person part-time for administrative matters. On paper, the German situation looks good, but in reality, there are long waiting lists to receive advice, among other things. The intention of the directive was to give Germany a chance to develop advisory services, but the Ministry believes that the services are fine.

There is a discussion in many bodies regarding CCDII, but there is no draft law for implementing the directive yet. Topics discussed include: the construction of paragraphs regarding debt advise, which means that advice should be free for everyone, which is what quality advice means.

The 3rd meeting of the working group dealing with the transposition of the directive is taking place in Greece at September 26. Up to this point, it has observed that the Minister wants to give consumers as many rights as the directive gives him. The first two meetings of the group gave a positive impression that both consumer organizations and financial institutions are trying to organize consumer protection. Greece is a positive example of a country where there is a committee and work is underway on the directive.

Probably, in Hungary, it will be as usual with directives that will be accepted on paper, but will not be actually enforced. The Ministry of Justice is responsible for the transposition of CCDII, but there are no indications that anything relevant is happening at the moment. There will probably be a big political change in the National bank and there may be room for a change of attitude.

Although the political situation in Italy is stable, nothing is happening with the transposition. On November 5, there will be a national meeting of the organization (OCC) in Rome, where the topic of the transposition will be raised. Also, during the meeting, the development of psychosocial support for debtors will be discussed.

There are no additional steps with the transposition of the CCDII, probably because everyone is focused on the Directive 2021/2167 on credit services, credit purchasers, and NPL. Politicians and lawyers in Italy are focused on very important changes in bankruptcy law, and no one is dealing with advice for debtors.

During the summer everything stopped and nothing happened in terms of the directive. Work on the directive was divided. A part was assigned to the Consumer Authority and the other part, concerning financial institutions, went to the Financial Service Authority. The Debt Advisory part went to the Ministry for Social Policy and Children’s Rights. In conclusion, this directive is not a priority at the moment. In Malta, there are preparations for the elections.

In Poland, The Office of Consumer Protection and Competition is responsible for the transposition of the directive. There are no indications that anything relevant is happening at the moment.

The official consumer protection body in Portugal is responsible for the transposition of the directive CCDII. They passed the information that it is progressing as expected.

Due to the December elections, nothing is happening in Romania with CCDII

In 2024, 46 debt advisory centers are being operated, consisting of lawyers, economists, and psychologists (a total of 184 people). Since January 1, 2024, they have dealt with 11,000 clients, with an average of 1,250 per month. They have accompanied about 8,000 clients and supported them and their families.

Changes are being prepared in the counselling system starting on January 1, 2025, where offices will expand their services to support families, domestic violence and support for people with disabilities. Currently, recruitment has started for over 270 new positions: psychologists, lawyers and social workers. They are now at the stage of preparing training programs and organizational procedures. At the moment, the priority is consolidation. Due to the changes, there expected an increase in demand for counselling by about 10%.

A few days ago the first draft of the questionnarie about transposition of CCDII from the Ministry of Economics was released. The questionnaire has only 12 pages, and the Ministry gave only 15 days to send comments on the draft (the deadline is October 4th). Regarding the debt advisory services the document focused only what small fees mean. There are more questions regarding the advisory services. There was a concern that the system of debt advisory would rely on voluntary advice.

There is no working group in Sweden dealing with the transposition of the CCDII. However, financial institutions and collection companies will have a difficult time with new government.

The municipalities throughout Sweden have debt advisors, but people who are covered by debt settlement do not have legal representation, as is the case in Denmark. In Sweden, 20% of people covered by debt settlement have a psychiatric diagnosis. It is not fair for people with disorders to represent themselves in court and before creditors.

It was also mentioned that people working with debtors must have medical competences, because many debtors have diagnoses.

In one of the municipalites, a project is being implemented concerning cooperation between family doctors and debt advisors. The aim of the project is for doctors to refer to debt advisors and vice versa. It is very important to find people with debts as soon as possible, to increase their care and reduce the risk of suicide. The cross-professional networks is very important.