Pressure is on to reach agreement on telecoms

March 08, 2020 / By mobanmarket

Pressure is on to reach agreement on telecoms

Commission proposal described as too complex.

European Union member states are resisting European Commission pressure for agreement at this week’s EU summit on a strict deadline for adopting the new telecoms package.

France, Italy, Sweden, Hungary and the Czech Republic are among the countries arguing that the Commission proposal is too recent and too complex for EU leaders to be able to take any firm decisions at present on either a timetable or on the package’s content.

The Commission made its proposal on 11 September, focused on increasing consumer protection and integrating Europe’s fragmented telecoms sector. It wants the European Council to direct national ministers and the European Parliament to adopt the package before the Parliament dissolves for elections next spring.

Several member states have broadly welcomed the proposal, believing that the creation of a single market for telecoms is important for the overall competitiveness of Europe’s economy. Some member states, among them the UK, are also conscious that their companies are well placed to benefit from a genuine single market for telecoms.

But even among member states that are broadly supportive of reform, there is resistance to the Commission’s proposed timeline. Some states say that negative reactions within the telecoms industry and from national regulators dictate that the proposal should follow the usual legislative procedure, with full prior discussion by national experts and telecoms ministers.

EU diplomats stress that quality should not be sacrificed to speed on such important proposals. Some also point to inadequacies in the Commission’s consultation on the proposal, and to risks of creating unacceptable uncertainty for market operators so soon after earlier reforms.

The concerns hardened after the EU’s 28 national telecoms regulators published detailed criticisms of the proposals. The Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (Berec) on Thursday (17 October) accused the Commission of exaggerating the problems facing the telecoms sector so as to ensure “legislative priority” for the package. Berec argues that the proposals take insufficient account of national regulators’ understanding of the peculiarities of national markets.

If the Commission were to win the power it is seeking to veto decisions taken by national regulators, the checks and balances under the current system would be upset, says Berec. The Commission’s proposals would also reduce Berec’s independence and proximity to consumers by replacing the Berec chairperson, who rotates amongst the national regulators, with a permanent official proposed by the Commission.

Resistance is also expected in the European Parliament, according to a source who said that there was “no chance” of the package being adopted by the parliament in this term. The most optimistic prediction is that the Parliament might adopt an initial position on the package, leaving the following parliament to negotiate a final text with member states.

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Pilar del Castillo Vera, a Spanish MEP from the centre-right European People’s Party who sits on the Parliament’s committee on industry, research and energy, has been appointed to steer most of the telecoms package through Parliament. Malcolm Harbour, a British MEP from the European Conservatives and Reformists Group, who chairs the Parliament’s committee on the internal market and consumer protection, is taking the lead on the consumer aspects of the proposal.