Luxembourg lawmakers approve postal liberalisation bill
Lawmakers in Luxembourg have voted unanimously in favour of opening up the country’s postal market to full competition, complying with EU postal laws.
Read MoreTag: P&T Luxembourg
Postal Digest – News from Itella, Russian Post, Lithuania Post, P&T
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Read MoreP&T Luxembourg ups stake in directory business
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Read MoreEuropean postal operators take stock of Parliament’s improvements
12 European postal operators take stock of the European Parliament’s improvements brought to the proposal for a third postal directive.
The European Parliament has adopted, with a broad majority, amendments bringing significant changes to the initial proposal of the Commission.
Taking into consideration the great uncertainty of universal service financing and the risks of social dumping, the European Parliament has proposed substantial improvements on these two points and asks for the postponement of the date of realisation of the Internal Market in order to cope with them. The repeated reference to the economic role of universal postal services as well as to their contribution to the territorial and social cohesion is to be welcomed. It recalls one of the original objectives of the Community postal policy, thus balancing the liberalisation process.
However, the postal operators from Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland and Slovakia want to stress that the postponement alone does not address the many legal, economic and technical questions which remain as acute as ever.
It is therefore extremely important to deepen the discussions on those points.
As a consequence, the signatories call the Council to follow the cautious approach adopted by the European Parliament and to enrich the directive proposal by addressing the remaining issues in order to properly manage the next liberalisation steps.
Read MoreEuropean postal operators express caution on the liberalisation of the postal market.
As the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union are about to decide on a proposal of the European Commission to fully liberalise the European postal market in 2009, 12 postal operators, in charge of providing the universal service in their countries, express their support for the cautious approach followed in the ongoing debates.
The postal operators of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Hungary, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland and Slovakia observe with interest the caution that characterises the majority of debates in the EU Parliament on the issue of postal market liberalisation.
Over the past few months several signatory postal operators have highlighted the difficulty of identifying and implementing a financing mechanism that guarantees the continuity of the universal postal service in the event of full liberalisation of the market.
Faced with this problem, several debates in the EU Parliament called for caution and raised crucial issues such as viable financing mechanisms of the universal service, dangers of social dumping and the necessary conditions for a level playing field between market players. As a result, three European Parliamentary Committees as well the European Social and Economic Committee proposed new dates for the completion of the internal market for postal services, to be confirmed if appropriate. In the meantime, all efforts must be constructively spent to propose adequate solutions to the above mentioned points which are essential to make liberalisation possible.
The 12 signatory postal operators support a responsible approach and assert that the actual uncertainties must be addressed before the current system of financing of the universal postal service is put to an end.
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