Concerning the results of today’s talks on the proposed amended Postal Directive by the Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council in Luxembourg, Michael Glos, Federal Minister of Economics and Technology said: “Clear progress is discernable on the path towards the liberalisation of the European postal services. No Member State questions liberalisation as such. The train is moving towards liberalisation. However, the Member States have different ideas about how fast it should move.” It will also still be necessary to clarify how the costs of universal service provision are to be calculated and the financing instruments managed.
Federal Minister Glos reported to the Ministers competent for the postal sector on the consensus reached under the German Presidency of the European Council on a large number of points of the Commission’s draft for amendments to the Postal Directive. The most important of these are the following:
• the continuation of a high-quality universal service to the same extent as hitherto,
• the authorisation conditions for postal services undertakings,
• the access conditions to the postal undertakings’ networks,
• the principles of tariffs and transparent accountancy,
• the principles of customer information and appeals proceedings and
• the enhancement of the role of national regulatory authorities.
These are important elements for creating a regulatory framework for the European postal services that is able to meet the challenges of the future. There is also broad consensus on the recognition of the success of steps towards liberalisation in the postal sector to date and on the need to complete these steps to reform.
Federal Minister Glos said: “I am very confident that a positive decision will be taken in the near future. Unless such agreement is reached, the current directive will expire without replacement at the end of 2008; exclusive national rights by individual postal companies would then have to be justified vis-à-vis the European Commission. This will certainly spur on the Member States concerned to reach a decision.”
