"...This very severe imbalance between the representation of financial services users' interests and that of providers has even deepened since the 2008 financial crisis. Nevertheless, the European Commission has not honored its public commitment at all. No funding tender for retail investors' organizations has been created so far. In addition, EC refused to grant even one euro to the European retail investors' organization (The European Federation of Investors – EuroInvestors, created in September 2009 on the initiative of Euroshareholders and of FAIDER ), through the already existing yearly EC tender directed to the European consumer organizations. It is important to underline that European Authorities categorize us as “consumer” organizations and that we were advised by EC officials to apply for that specific tender. The EC turned down our 2009 application, and clearly told us that we would never be successful for this yearly tender..."