Brussels, 09/11/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 8 November, on the fringes of a ministerial meeting on justice and home affairs, the Council adopted a common position on the draft directive completing the liberalisation of postal services in the EU. Adopted by a qualified majority vote (with Luxembourg voting against and Belgium abstaining), the common position sets out the political consensus noted in October at the Telecoms Council (see EUROPE 9513).
The common position foresees: 1) the opening up to competition of the processing of post weighing less than 50g by December 2010 in the EU; 2) the option of 11 member states (Cyprus, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania and Slovakia) to delay the liberalisation by two years; and 3) the introduction of a reciprocity clause in EU legislation, authorising member states which have opened up their market before 2013 to refuse access to operators still holding the monopoly in their country of establishment between 1 January 20011 and 31 December 2013. The Council has not altered the scope of universal postal services.
The issue now goes to the European Parliament for second reading, expected to take place in the spring of next year. (M.B.)