Brussels, 23/10/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 22 October, the European Parliament announced that the conciliation procedure for the third reading on the “Telecoms package” would officially open on Wednesday 4 November. In the meantime, informal meetings have taken place between the Parliamentary delegation and representatives of the Swedish presidency in an effort to clear the way ahead (EUROPE 10003). Lifting the veil on the current spirit of discussions, Alejo Vidal-Quadras (EPP, Spain), the president of the parliamentary delegation, was optimistic. He highlighted the attitude of compromise with which the Parliament enters discussions, in an effort not to undermine, “the hard work accomplished over the past two years”. He did, however, underline the determination of the parliamentary assembly of preventing any problems arising in its defence of citizens' interests., “We did all we could to obtain the right solution but the Council has to understand that Parliament will defend the freedom of citizens it represents, without any hesitation”. Catherine Trautmann (S-D, France) took part in the preliminary meetings. She affirmed that the text currently on the table is likely to suit the two parties, “this is a promising start in kicking off the official conciliation phase”. The president of the Industry Committee, Herbert Reul (EPP, Germany) was also part of the Parliamentary delegation and concluded, “we are now at a level where we understand each other well”.
Conciliation procedure will last between four and six weeks. If the Council and Parliament do not manage to agree on a joint text at the end of the procedure (30 December, the ultimate deadline), the whole of the telecoms package will not be adopted and the process will not be able to continue until a new European Commission proposal is made. This would be extremely damaging for the telecoms sector's future, which needs regulatory certainties in an environment undergoing massive change in a context of economic crisis. In order to succeed in the third reading, Parliament will have to reach a simply majority of votes and the Council will decide by qualified majority voting. (I.L.)