The spoken word shall prevail!
Introductory statement:
Ms Niebler,
Commissioner Reding,
Mr Rübig,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
As representative of the German Council Presidency, I am pleased to be able to take part in today's plenary vote on the regulation and hope it will bring us a step closer to its final adoption.
As you all know, the Roaming Regulation tabled for voting today after intensive and successful negotiations makes up the centrepiece of the German Presidency in telecommunications. Since the beginning of consultations, we have pressed for this project and always stressed our ambitious goal of bringing this dossier to completion together with the European Parliament and the Commission in the first half of 2007.
With this project, the EU bodies can prove that they are capable of taking effective action but also of doing this where there is a clear and definite need for a European regulation. Roaming charges in the EU are still much higher than their costs, placing a continuing burden on European citizens and especially on small and medium-sized enterprises.
The instruments available so far at Community level or to the national regulatory authorities are not enough to redress this 'market failure'.
Improving tariff transparency is a major stepping stone to solving the problem. Consumers will be more satisfied in future if they are no longer taken unawares by inordinate roaming prices. As experience has shown, though, transparency alone will not bring these excessive rates under control. So we have no option but to place them under direct regulation.
The outcome of the trialogue negotiations amongst the representatives of the Presidency, the European Commission and the European Parliament is now on the table and, in my view, it is an impressive document.
We came to an agreement quite quickly on the aims, all parties want a clear and simple regulation that takes prompt effect. We also agreed on content: It is essential to regulate both the wholesale and retail side, combined with far-reaching measures to raise tariff transparency. Also fully in keeping with ‘better regulation’, broad support has also been given to the idea of confining provisions to a consumer protection tariff, to be called the Eurotariff in future.
The most difficult points on the agenda, however, were the specific price ceilings, especially for the end customer, and the practical shape of the new Eurotariff. In the estimation of the Presidency, the package finally agreed on makes for a sound and viable compromise.
The price ceiling of € 0.49 for outbound or € 0.24 for inbound calls in the first year and the additional cuts scheduled for the 2nd and 3rd years will take an enormous burden off most customers, convincing them of the tangible advantages of the EU.
The combination that will now be available of opt-out for most roaming customers and opt-in for those who have already negotiated a special roaming tariff is also a judicious blend of consumer protection and pragmatism, because our concern is to protect as many clients as possible from excessive fees. I don't think anyone wants to force those who have already chosen a tariff suited to their needs - a cheaper business tariff for example - to change as well.
In the view of the Presidency, the overall compromise arrived at in the negotiations in all meets the demands everyone made for an efficient but also clear and unbureaucratic regulation and so everyone involved will hopefully be able to endorse it. As a representative of the German Council Presidency and the Council, I want to urge you now again to support the trialogue outcome. It is now up to you to bring about a solution that can take rapid effect.
Concluding statement:
One thing is clear from everything the speakers have said: The shared aim of the European Parliament, the European Commission and the Council is to substantially curb EU-wide prices for roaming in the interests of the consumer as early as the summer if possible and make a distinct improvement to tariff transparency.
These aims pose a great challenge to all EU institutions: They put us under enormous technical and administrative, but also political, pressure. We need to prove to the citizens of Europe that EU institutions can act effectively. I think we have succeeded.
Today, we are near the finishing line; we have managed to come up with a balanced and viable compromise together. The negotiations were hard going and I can assure you as representative of the Council Presidency that it was no easy job to bring the widely divergent interests of the member states together. Now, though, we have got a balanced package on the table, which has already been approved by the Committee of Permanent Representatives. I am sure that the compromise will also be accepted by the EU ministers in the Telecommunications Council on 7 June.
It was plain from some of the speakers’ contributions that some of you would have liked to have seen even lower prices or even more consumer protection in the new Eurotariff arrangements.
All of you know that we need a majority in the European Parliament but also in the Council for our joint undertaking here. No-one can have it all their own way in a compromise, that is what a compromise is about.
But let me also say something on this: We must remember that the compromise we found in the end will also bring tangible benefits to consumers, many of whom still have to pay € 1 to € 3 a minute for inbound and outbound calls.
At the same time, though, the regulatory intervention in the market is measured to maintain tariff diversity and pose no danger to competition amongst operators. This was important, because effective competition is the best guarantee of lower prices and customized services in the long run.
We as representatives of the EU institutions and also the European consumers have good reason, I think, to be satisfied with what is up for approval here today in the Parliament and on 7 June in the Council. We have succeeded in striking a balance between protecting the consumer and leaving room for competition and innovation - in the interests of the customer.
