Author: Archive

As rules on liberalising Europe’s postal markets look to be adopted in the New Year, Pál Szabó, CEO of Hungary’s Magyar Posta, points to a number of “bad experiences” in countries that have already opened up their postal markets to competition and stresses the need for a “sustainable financing solution” to allow operators to continue providing citizens with quality mail delivery.

In an interview with EurActiv, Pál Szabó, Chief Executive Officer of Hungary’s Magyar Posta, welcomed the decision to allow some countries more time to implement the directive, saying “the level of readiness of member states is quite different.” He believes that this two-staged market opening will not lead to market distortions of competition as the delay will affect “not more than 10 pct of the European postal market and will last for just two years.”

Szabó noted that, with the gradual liberalisation that has already taken place in the delivery of parcels and express services, “all big international competitors have already entered the Hungarian market […] It is sure that the level of competition will significantly increase”.

While he does not think the level of service to citizens will be compromised, thanks to a “clearly defined set of obligations for universal service providers”, he stressed that, with the elimination of the reserved area – which he underlined had proved to be a “simple, transparent” and “state-budget friendly” solution – “the most important task at the moment is to find another appropriate and sustainable financing solution in order to have the same high-quality universal services in the future”.

State subsidies, he believes, are not a feasible option for most of the new member states. He suggested that a ‘pay or play mechanism’, whereby new operators must be granted a license in exchange for respecting certain minimum standards in order to operate in a country’s market, “might be the best possible solution”.