Heated debate in French Parliament on Postal Reform Bill

The French national assembly was preparing to sit late into the night on Friday (January 22) so that MPs could finish their debate on the French government’s controversial bill to reform the nation’s postal services. Three days had been allocated for examination of the bill, which aims to incorporate into French law the 1997 and 2002 European Union directives on opening up the postal services market to competition. The debate has been held up, in particular, by the tabling of numerous amendments. Those passed include a guarantee that no more than 10 per cent of the population in any one departement or administrative region should be further than 5km away from the nearest branch of the French post office, La Poste. Another ensures that La Poste takes part in the preparation of the decree concerning the provision of a universal postal service in France. One of the rejected amendments, which was tabled by the assembly’s economic affairs commission, obliged new players in the French postal services market to serve a substantial geographic area.