Brussels, 29/06/2015 (Agence Europe) - Spain, France and the United Kingdom have urged the Latvian Presidency of the Council of the EU and representatives from the European Parliament to strike a political agreement on Monday 29 June on the last remaining chapters of the Telecommunications Package, such as roaming.
In a joint letter published a few hours before the beginning of the inter-institutional negotiating session, which they hope will be the last, the respective Spanish, French and British Ministers, Victor Calvo-Sotelo, Axelle Lemaire and Ed Vaizey stated: “It is important to adopt the draft regulation on the single electronic communications market soon, which will get rid of roaming costs and preserve Internet neutrality”.
Bolstered by the “unanimous” mandate granted to the Latvian Presidency by the member states on Wednesday 24 June, the three signatory countries have expressed their determination to position themselves closer to the European Parliament line, which the Council has done throughout the negotiations.
According to the Latvian Presidency, the mandate granted it by the Council does not contain a date for getting rid of roaming costs. It indicated that everything will depend on the compromise reached on the other questions in the package and that a decision on the date would come at the very end of the discussions. The member states do not want these costs to be eliminated before the end of 2018, although the EP has expressed a preference for this to occur in December 2016. (Mathieu Bion)