Commission aims for postal compromise

The European Parliament is considering a two-step approach to liberalisation of postal markets as a way to strike a compromise deal with the Council of Ministers by next month.

German centre-right MEP Markus Ferber, who is currently talking to member states in an attempt to secure a first-reading agreement on the dossier, said that a two-step approach on liberalisation allowing new EU entrants and Greece extra time to adapt to new measures might be a step out of the current deadlock.

France, Belgium and Luxembourg’s monopoly operators have been pushing for a three-year postponement of the 2009 deadline for liberalisation of the €90 billion-a-year market for letters weighing less than 50 grammes, which was set in proposals for a third postal services directive published last October.

The two-step approach would strike a balance between the 2012 deadline supported by France, Belgium and Luxembourg and the European Commission’s original proposal. Ferber, who is reporting on the issue for Parliament’s transport and tourism committee, said that the compromise would "help some member states to open earlier. We don’t want to block those who want to make progress". No timeframe has yet been defined for the approach.

Another amendment being floated in Parliament is a reciprocity clause penalising those member states which fail to meet the liberalisation deadline. Under the provision, monopolists in laggard member states would not be allowed to operate cross-border.

A German diplomat denied reports in the German newspaper Handelsblatt on Sunday (13 May) that the presidency of the EU was moving towards Ferber’s compromise plan. "We’re definitely not preparing anything like that," he said. "In our opinion, it’s a no go area. Then you create a market within the internal market that won’t work."

Germany is currently facing a wave of protests over planned liberalisation of its postal market from 2008. Deutsche Post workers assembled in Berlin on Monday (14 May) to demand that Germany’s market be opened at the same time as other EU countries.

Parliament’s transport and tourism committee will vote on amendments to the draft law next month (5 June) ahead of a meeting of telecoms ministers (7-8 June).

The European Parliament is considering a two-step approach to liberalisation of postal markets as a way to strike a compromise deal with the Council of Ministers by next month.