FIRST THREE-WAY TALKS ON TELECOMS PACKAGE.

• Position: Brief article

The French and Czech telecoms ministers, Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding and the European Parliament's rapporteurs met, on 16 December in Strasbourg, for their first three-way talks on the telecoms package. At least five similar meetings are scheduled to follow between 7 January and March. The aim is adoption at second reading of the reform of EU telecoms rules, an extensively reworked version of the European Commission's proposals from last year. "The atmosphere was very constructive and we identified the points to be negotiated," said a French diplomat. He mentioned the problems resulting from the proposal for a European telecoms agency (which the...