'Give letter mail a chance' – Per Mortensen, Chairman, Postal Users Group
Concerning Interview: Portugal eyes end to ‘mail battle’ and in response to the European Commission’s proposal, following 20 years of debate, to finally open the EU market for letter mail by 2009, there has been another vociferous, determined and energetic campaign to delay the process until well into the next decade.
The Postal Users Group (PUG), an alliance of European trade associations and large users, has been deeply disappointed by this response. We believe letter mail needs a liberalized market in order to have a positive and sustainable future. The current ‘half-way house’ has failed to deliver what is badly needed: competitive prices, enhanced service quality, new services, product innovation and dynamic partnerships between providers and users.
There is growing evidence that consumers, users and businesses are open to new means of having knowledge and information delivered to their homes and workplaces in creative combinations of the post and the web.
That is why PUG wants the EU to act decisively now, finish a very old debate, and approve the Commission’s proposal to amend Directive 97/67/EC, which will complete the internal market in Community postal services by setting a fixed deadline to fully open the letter mail market by no later than 2010.
