Long-term consumer protection and policy programmes should be prepared which reach beyond the year 2000. Continuous exchange of experience between the consumer associations of the European Union and those of the applicant countries is essential. The discussion continued to concentrate mainly on the financial resources, which was seen as the main problem for consumer associations in the applicant countries. It is very difficult to undertake any consumer activities without the financial support of the government. However, this problem concerns consumer associations from the European Union as well.
Government funding is crucial everywhere.
One should also stress that consumer protection is not a marginal issue, but an issue of great importance to the modern society. Many participants of the discussion stated that there is no conflict between independence of the consumer associations and public financing. If funding consumer associations, governments are paying for concrete actions and not for keeping them silent. The discussion pointed to two different points of view. On the one hand, there may be the conflict of interest between consumer associations and the private sector, questions of confidence by the public and reliability.