European Consumer Debt Network - ECDN

24/04/2026

We are pleased to show a short video presenting our common SPES - Projekt with Ordine of Perugia

Sovraindebitamento

19/04/2026

We had a great conference in the European Parliament in Strasbourg with 50 participants in person from 10 European Member States.
The French MEP Keller # opened the conference with a very engaged welcome video, stressing that gambling is a major challenging issue for societies. Pauline Dujardin, Vice-President ECDN, expressed her pleasure that Cresus is co-hosting the conference together with ECDN. Dieter Korczak, ECDN President, opened the conference by saying that it is not playing itself that is the problem, but rather the economized form of gambling that leads to excessive play. Online gambling in particular is becoming an increasing social problem. The first online bet was placed in 1996 during an FA Cup football match in England.
One of the key takeaways of the first panel was that gambling is a multifaceted cultural problem, with different levels and varying distinctions across social groups and classes.
The second panel and the roundtable discussion highlighted, among other things, that key regulatory tools include self-assessment tools, credit card blocking software, and self-exclusion registers. Overall, it was emphasized that it is important to quantify the harm caused by gambling addiction at all levels and to de-normalize gambling.

19/03/2026

The Peppi Project is the most amazing and exciting project in the history of the ECDN to date. The results of the project have now been published in a book.
It is available as print and open access version.

13/03/2026

We are pleased to welcome Dr. Stuart Stamp, Independent Social Researcher and Research Associate at Maynooth University, to our upcoming conference in Strasbourg, 14 April..

Dr. Stamp has spent many years working on issues of personal over-indebtedness and financial exclusion, approaching them through the lens of inequality and human rights. His work combines research, policy analysis and hands-on experience supporting services that assist people struggling with debt in Ireland and the UK.
At the conference he will present:

“Problem Gambling and the Irish Traveller Community.”

13/03/2026

Another great presentation will be given by Gerda Reith from the University of Glasgow. She is one of the co-authors of the LANCET report on gambling

We are delighted to welcome Prof. Gerda Reith, Professor of Social Science at the University of Glasgow, to our upcoming conference. Prof. Reith is a leading international expert on gambling and public health. She served as a Commissioner on the Lancet Public Health Commission on Gambling and is cur...

05/03/2026

At the upcoming conference of ECDN, Silvia Ricci from the Bar Association of Perugia (Italy) will present:
“Measuring Over-Indebtedness Risk via an Index Incorporating Behavioral Factors such as Gambling.”

Silvia Ricci is an Italian lawyer specialising in administrative, constitutional and human rights law. She has experience in litigation before national courts and the European Court of Human Rights, particularly in cases related to the protection of fundamental rights.

She currently serves as Erasmus+ project manager for the Bar Association and works on the SPES project within ECDN, focusing on the prevention of over-indebtedness and social exclusion.

Join us at the ECDN Conference on 14 April 2026 at the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

You can participate either onsite in Strasbourg or online.

Register now to secure your place and be part of the discussion on gambling and over-indebtedness:

27/02/2026

You want to know more about the ERASMUS+ "SPES project"? Please, watch our video

20/02/2026

The over-indebtedness risk asessment questionnaire and the modules for workshops with social workers and over-indebted persons are now available.

https://ecdn.eu/2026/02/20/intervention-strategy-for-preventing-and-combatting-over-indebtedness

https://ecdn.eu/the-academy/workshops/

Intervention strategy for preventing and combatting over-indebtedness News %

14/01/2026

The prevalence of housing cost overburden, meaning more than 40% of someone’s disposable income is used for housing costs, has increased by more than one per cent to 8.8% from 7.8% in 2020 in Europe.

Social scoreboard: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/cache/dashboard/social-scoreboard/

09/01/2026

A study of the Mayo clinic shows that financial stress leads to heart aging

To create a model to predict cardiac aging and mortality along with examining the interconnection between psychosocial and conventional determinants.