Brussels, 12/07/2016 (Agence Europe) - MEPs have expressed their concern in an own initiative report adopted by the transport committee on Tuesday 12 July at the wide differences that exist in the European Union in how the directive on postal services is being implemented.
Rapporteur Markus Ferber (EPP, Germany) was particularly critical. “We have got the European postal policy wrong”, he started, regretting that, despite eight years of implementation, national markets are still and “more than ever” dominated by national operators. Ferber notes, too, that postal services have deteriorated substantially in some countries - in Italy for example. The relevant Italian authority would seem to have decided that 25% of the population will have a postal service every second day. Ferber pointed out that setting a common standard for letters was a prerequisite for the emergence of a European postal market.
The member states and the Commission, therefore, are called on to ensure greater transparency in price setting and the performance of postal services, and to focus on cross-border delivery services which remain very opaque. The Slovak Presidency wants to make as much progress as possible on the draft regulation on parcel delivery, the prime aim of which is to increase transparency on pricing and to improve regulatory scrutiny of charges (EUROPE 11589).
More generally, MEPs call for: - the independence of national regulatory authorities (NRAs) to be enhanced by separating their regulatory functions from activities associated with ownership or control of a postal operator; - the universal service to be maintained, for example, by addressing discriminatory policies based on population density; - cross-border postal services to be improved to boost e-commerce; - any deterioration in working conditions to be addressed.
The report is likely to be put to the vote in plenary session in September. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)