European states are to approve the scrapping of national mail monopolies at a vital meeting of thetransport and telecommunications ministers in Luxembourg today – but they will vote to delay the
liberalisation by two years, according to the EU’s Portuguese presidency.The countries have concluded that “no agreement was possible on the (2009) date proposed bythe (European) Commission”, Portugal’s postal minister, Mario Lino, is reported as saying in aninterview with the EU affairs portal Euractiv.
Member states are, however, close to reaching a political agreement on the Commission’sproposal to open up national mail services to full competition.
But the agreement will probably be similar to the European Parliament’s position reached inJuly, said Lino.
The Parliament wants a two-stage opening: by 31 December 2010 for 13 EU members and 31December 2012 for Greece, Luxembourg and the 12 new EU states, who are mostly from central andeastern Europe.
Such a compromise should bring “a considerable number of more reluctant partners” intoagreement, said Lino.
“Especially after the vote in the EP, it was our conclusion that no agreement was possible onthe date proposed by the Commission. I’m sure the Commission will draw the same conclusions,” hetold Euractiv.
The ministers are likely to back a “reciprocity” clause, though, which would prevent postaloperators in countries that maintain a reserved area from entering markets that have already beenfully opened before 2011. The Netherlands has already voted to scrap its national reserve area atthe start of 2008.
All member states were clear that they wanted to guarantee a high-quality universal serviceto users in every point of their territories, Lino added.
Euro MPs voted in July to end the below-50g mail monopoly in most EU member states – but atthe start of 2011 and not 2009 as the European Commission had wanted.
Now it is down to the EU’s Council of Ministers – made up of the 27 member state governments– to decide whether it takes the Parliament’s or the Commission’s side.
Countries such as the UK, Sweden and Finland, where the markets are already fullyderegulated, and the Netherlands and Germany, support the Commission’s proposal to liberalise theEU letters market earlier but are in a minority on the EU’s Council of Ministers.
The postal operators of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia,Luxembourg, Malta, Poland and Slovakia oppose the liberalisation directive as put forward by theComission last year.
