German chancellor Angela Merkel has declared herself in favour of fully liberalising the domesticpostal market on January 1, 2008, as planned, apparently ending a coalition government dispute on
the issue. Dutch MPs have meanwhile delayed voting on postal liberalisation until Thursday.Merkel, head of the Christian Democrats (CDU), personally told Social Democrat (SPD) chiefKurt Beck yesterday that she saw no scope to change the existing legal situation under which themarket will be completely liberalised as of next January, Handelsblatt reported. According togovernment sources, there was “massive” resistance within the CDU to extending Deutsche Post’sexclusive licence beyond December 31, 2007, the newspaper said. The SPD chief had accepted that “the law will therefore stay as it is”, it added.
Just one week ago, there were signs that the CDU might be ready to agree to SPD demands for amonopoly extension pending postal liberalisation throughout the EU. This is planned for 2009 butfaces opposition from France, Italy, Spain and other countries. The SPD also claims that privatefirms will compete with Deutsche Post by paying low wages.
The Chancellor’s intervention in the postal liberalisation dispute was welcomed today byprivate German mail operators.
The “Mehr Farbe im Postmarkt” action group, representing private mail operators, said theconfirmation of the January 1, 2008 date, regardless of when other EU countries opened up theirmarkets ended a “painful” discussion for German business. “The decision is an important signal formore growth and employment in the German postal market, and creates the necessary planningcertainty for companies,” said spokesman Bernd Jäger.
Dr. Ralf Wojtek, chairman of the international express association BIEK, added: “Now it isnecessary to implement liberalisation in practice by abolishing the VAT privilege of Deutsche Post,or at least creating equal conditions for all competitors.” Deutsche Post is VAT-exempt fordomestic letters and small parcels.
Separately, Dutch MPs continued to debate postal liberalisation on Tuesday but again delayeda vote on the issue until Thursday. Left-wing Labour MPs have threatened to block plans to fullyliberalise the market as of January 1, 2008, unless workers for private mail firms gain better payconditions. But the government wants pay to be covered in labour regulations, and not in the postallaw.
