Underlines that the current procedures for assessing the real needs for payment appropriations between the relevant administrations in the Member States and the competent services in the Commission take place in total obscurity; strongly believes that such procedures adversely impact on the quality of the final result, on the level of information that reaches not only the governments themselves but also the national parliaments and the European Parliament, and on the negotiations between the two branches of the budgetary authority;

Is confident that the SEPA and the Payment Services Directive should provide solutions for the fragmentation and lack of competition identified by the sector inquiry concerning payment infrastructures; recalls that the first phase of the SEPA entered into force on 28 January 2008 and requires integrated clearing and settlement platforms, operating on the basis of the same rules and technical standards; emphasises that the access criteria to SEPA should be fair and transparent, and that governance should take into account all stakeholders in the system, not just financial institutions; recalls also that the Payment Services Directive p ...[+++]rovides that there should be no discrimination as regards access to payments systems other than that necessary to safeguard against risk and protect financial and operational stability; points out that under the principle of neutrality of Community policies, no single method of payment should be favoured over another, and the costs related to the use of the various payments systems should be transparent so that consumers can choose their method of payment in full knowledge of the facts;

As regards RAL (“reste à liquider”), the results illustrate appropriately the progress achieved: the disbursement ratio (end of the year RAL /payments of the year) went from 8 years in 2001 down to 4.5 years in 2003.

Clauses cover such matters as contract formation, general obligations of the contractor and the client and non-price related payment conditions (for example, a provision specifying the contractor's right to give notice to suspend the work for non-payment), insurance, duration, handover and defects, limitation of liability, termination, etc.

Payment transactions perfect the exchange of claims and liabilities; they are the corollary of the purchase of goods and services, of countless individual decisions on savings and investments or the simple service of sending money.

- 3 - Citizens' Europe. To be able to use one and the same payment card in Patras, Munich or Glasgow will provide the Community's citizens with tangible evidence of European integration. The technological and industrial aspects. Electronic payment cards are a good example of the link between technological progress and the completion of the internal market.