The French government has denied reports that it is planning to postpone restructuring La Posteinto a private company until after June’s European elections for political reasons.
French media reported on Tuesday that the government will postpone the presentation of thedraft law regarding La Poste privatisation until this summer after the EU elections have takenplace. But the government’s spokesman Luc Chatel denied the reports yesterday saying that plans tochange the legal status of the public postal operator were “neither deferred nor abandoned”.
The government was initially expected to present the draft law for the transformation of LaPoste into a limited company before the summer in view of the European postal liberalisation from 1January 2011.
On Tuesday, however, the French president Nicolas Sarkozy reportedly said that the reform ofthe legal status of La Poste was postponed as it is no longer considered a priority in the face ofthe economic crisis. According to the national newspaper Le Monde, this statement was confirmed bythe ministers Luc Chatel and Hubert Falco. “Nicolas Sarkozy told us that the postal reform, whichdoesn’t create an immediate value, could wait without giving a date. In the crisis, La Poste hasbecome a marginal topic. The bad prospects for 2010 should confirm this position.”
The adoption of La Poste’s new legal status scheduled for 1 January 2010 would thus bedelayed, according to this report.
But the next day, Chatel completely rejected the previous statement, Le Monde furtherreported. “There is no postponement of the draft law for La Poste,” he said. “Currently, we arefinalising the draft law which will take a few more weeks. Then there are several meetingsscheduled regarding the law with numerous representative institutions.”
Affected by the economic crisis and decreasing mail volumes, La Poste is counting on thisreform to obtain new financial means and to prepare for full postal liberalisation in 2011, LeMonde added.
In late August 2008, La Poste unveiled plans to restructure into a limited company in 2010and to float a minority holding on the stock exchange in 2011 in order to raise €2.5 – €3.5 billionfor growth, including acquisitions. French media referred to a possible IPO involving a 10-20%stake. La Poste had already signed a four-year public service contract with the French governmentin July 2008, covering commitments to mail deliveries six days a week and mail delivery qualitytargets, and the maintenance of 17,000 postal service points across France.
