Negotiators from the Council of the EU and the European Parliament will meet again on Monday 5 February for a third round of interinstitutional negotiations on the roll-out of high-speed networks in the EU (‘Gigabit Infrastructure Act’) (see EUROPE 13322/10). This meeting between Europe’s co-legislators could be conclusive, provided that agreement can be reached on the issue of tacit approval.
“It was an uneventful text, but it has become more complex with the question of tacit approvals”, confirmed a source to EUROPE.
On this point, the Commission proposed that the absence of a response from an administration to a request for works authorisation within a defined period should constitute tacit authorisation. In its view, this would have made it possible to reduce the costs of deploying electronic communications infrastructures, which are partly due to the procedures for granting permits prior to the deployment or upgrading of networks.
Parliament’s position was that Member States should have 2 months in which to accept or reject a request. The Council of the EU removed this reference from the text in its position adopted on 5 December (see EUROPE 13307/1).
On this subject, the European Commissioner for Internal Market, Thierry Breton, who believes that tacit approval is one of the key measures for speeding up the process, had judged that this decision by the Council of the EU represented a “concern”.
According to the latest discussions, however, a compromise could be reached on this issue. It could provide for Member States to derogate from the principle of tacit approval. Nevertheless, in the absence of a response, the competent authorities could be required to compensate the parties who have submitted an application for authorisation.
Other issues also remain unresolved, such as end-user charges for calls and text messages within the EU. The current rules, capping the price of intra-EU calls at 19 cents per minute, will expire in May 2024. MEPs would like this ceiling to be zero, but the Council of the EU is reluctant.
The co-legislators will also have to agree on the date of entry into force of the text, with the Council expecting 24 months and the European Parliament wanting 6 months. (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)