Remittances: fostering mobility in the EU's Single Market

In the past fifteen years, remittances have largely outpaced global development aid. Their amount has also increased significantly within the EU, reaching €31.2 billion in 2010. The event chaired by Staffan Jerneck (CEPS) focused on the specifics of remittances in the EU’s single market, most importantly on challenges ahead to achieve higher efficiency.

After a presentation by Luca Barbone (CASE Research Institute) on the role of remittances in reducing poverty and improving economic growth in Poland, Carlo Corazza (World Bank) underlined the decision of the G20 to reduce their average cost to 5% by 2014 in order to empower migrants. Jan Hillered (Western Union) highlighted the need for clear and proportionate regulation, while Birgit Weise-Montag (European Commission) also addressed improvements in consumer protection and Leon Isaacs (IAMTN) emphasised the problem of data collection. The panellists agreed that the revision of the Payment Services Directive presents a good opportunity for improvements.