Brussels, 01/03/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 28 February, the EP Committee on Transport and Tourism held a first exchange of views on the Commission's proposal for a directive of October 2006 which aims to fully liberalise the postal sector by 2009 (see EUROPE 9289). Discussions already show that views differ over the main stakes of the legislative proposal, namely the financing of the universal postal service, the timetable for opening the sector up to competition, and pressure on employment due to liberalisation. In favour of total liberalisation of the postal sector from 2009, Markus Ferber (EPP-ED, Germany) has still to present his draft report. His aim is to reach a vote in parliamentary committee this May so that the EP may give its opinion in first reading during the June plenary session. The directive proposal is included on the agenda of the June meeting of European telecommunications ministers.
Funding the universal service. The Commission's proposal maintains the current level of Universal Postal Service (UPS). The latter provides for mail to be collected and delivered for each natural/legal person every working day and no fewer than five times per week. In a totally competitive environment, the question raised is that of how UPS will be financed. The Commission has put forward a non-exhaustive list of four options: State aid, national compensation funds, public procurement, fees for service providers and/or users. Mr Ferber said the “Commission leaves it up to member states to choose. National regulators will have their own toolbox and the possibility of applying different models to different kinds of services”. Questioning his colleagues on the existence of a “5th model”, he said this model would be tantamount to “leaving things as they are”. Hostile to such a hypothesis, he said he would not make “any proposals on this in (his) draft report”. Nonetheless, he urged for UPS to be developed so that “consumer protection” can be ensured. Anxious to “prevent competition being synonymous with dumping”, Luigi Cocilovo (ALDE, Italy) said the Commission's proposal needs perfecting as the Commission does not provide sufficient guarantees. Not having any “fundamental opposition” to additional opening of the postal sector, Johannes Blokland (ID, NL) placed emphasis on market access in a competitive environment and on respect of consumers and SMEs. Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert (ALDE, NL) expressed “surprise at the catastrophic scenarios” that are due to the fact that some member states are not well prepared. She recommended turning to “public markets” for financing UPS.
German Social Democrat Willi Piecyk said the “Commission's proposal is bad”, as the UPS cannot be considered a “good”. Eva Lichtenberger (Greens/EFA, Austria) stressed the importance of universal service coverage over the whole of EU territory, mainly in the remote and scarcely populated regions. “For the population of these regions, it does not matter if the monopoly is yellow, blue or red. Services must function. If there are no competition rules, it will not work - that is obvious”, she warned. Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL, NL) urged for keeping the reserved services domain currently authorised for handling mail that weighs less than 50 grams. Zsolt László Becsey (EPP-ED, Hungary) said: “There is a serious problem inherent to the (legislative) proposal as we are trying to open competition up for services that must be provided in remote regions” that are economically less profitable. Speaking to his colleagues, he sounded a note of caution, saying: “If we continue to create a heterogenous Europe, this will have consequences”. Spanish Socialist Inés Ayala Sender denounced the “profession of faith” requested that would consist of giving up the reserved services domain, despite the fact that the latter is “the only system that works”.
Timetable. Markus Ferber recalled that review of the postal directive, as recommended by the Commission, followed the track marked out. The postal directive 2002/39/EC in force today will expire at the end of December 2008. He expressed fear that there could be a legal vacuum, saying: “Unless we take a decision (…) nothing will happen!”. In this case, only European competition rules and state aid rules should apply. Luigi Cocilovo said postponing the date for opening up full competition should not be the first solution and should only be contemplated if sufficient guarantees are set in place. “Changing the timetable is well and good but the main thing is to guarantee universal service for all European citizens”, said Ms Ayala Sender.
Employment. After completion of the internal market in the postal sector, “it is out of the question to create jobs with precarious salaries”, the rapporteur said. Ms Lichtenberger said there should not be more “downward levelling” of salaries that are already precarious in this sector. According to Mr Blokland, there must be “provisions to protect the personnel” of companies affected by restructuring. (mb)