Brussels, 03/06/2013 (Agence Europe) - The group of democrats and liberals (ADLE) of the European Parliament has welcomed the proposal by Commissioner Neelie Kroes to get rid of mobile telephone roaming charges by Easter 2014. Readers may recall that, on 30 May, Commissioner Kroes launched an appeal to the MEPs of the ITRE committee for their support in a new reform of the roaming sector ahead of the European elections (see EUROPE 10856). The Danish MEP Jens Rohde, ALDE's coordinator within the ITRE committee, said that he fully supported the commissioner in her efforts to create a Europe without roaming charges. “We must ensure that the telecoms market becomes integrated and that people are no longer afraid to make a call from their mobile telephone or to download data when they are abroad. India and the United States have already succeeded in abolishing roaming costs, it is high time that Europe followed their lead”, he said. Poland's Adina Valean, rapporteur for the ALDE Group on the third roaming package, reiterated her long-standing commitment to getting rid of roaming charges. “I believe that roaming (tariffs) should cease and be replaced by national tariffs, plus a fixed tax to cover admin costs”, she stressed.
Belgian Socialist MEP Marc Tarabella said that, “in the age of communication without borders, these additional costs to consumers are becoming totally unjustified and even anachronistic (…). The aim is eventually to see roaming disappear to become nothing more than just a bad memory”. (IL/transl.fl)