Germany tires of EU postal prevarication

Germany is preparing to scrap plans for liberalisation of its postal market next year as the goalposts for agreement on EU-wide market opening are moved further away.

According to German daily Handelsblatt, Economics Minister Michael Glos now wants to extend Deutsche Post’s monopoly on the lucrative market for letters below 50 grams beyond next year.

With no guaranteed date for pan-EU liberalisation in view, it appears that Germany has developed cold feet. EU telecoms ministers, who debate the European Commission’s 2009 deadline for liberalisation tomorrow (8 June), have postponed their final decision to October in the face of ferocious campaigning from France, Belgium and Luxembourg.

The move would be a severe setback for the pro-liberalisation camp, which had been looking to Germany to set a good example to other member states before the 2009 deadline.

So far, only Sweden, the UK and Estonia have voluntarily opened their markets.

A German diplomat claimed that national market opening had never been dependent on his government brokering a deal under the current presidency. "We knew all along that one big member state was going to have general elections this spring. It was clear, no decision without France," he said.

A vote in the European Parliament’s transport committee has been postponed to 18 June or beyond. Tentative compromises forged in a committee debate on Monday (4 June) suggest a two-track approach to liberalisation. New member states and Greece would be given a two-year period of grace to adapt markets after a proposed 2010 deadline. Socialist MEPs, however, are still pushing for a 2012 deadline applicable to all member states.

Germany is preparing to scrap plans for liberalisation of its postal market next year as the goalposts for agreement on EU-wide market opening are moved further away.