TELECOMMUNICATIONS : TELECOMS PACKAGE COLLATERAL VICTIM OF LANGUAGE DISPUTE.

• Position: Brief article

In an unexpected turn of events in Strasbourg, the telecoms package vote, scheduled on the evening of 24 February in the European Parliament's Committee on Industry (ITRE), was postponed for procedural reasons. The report by Pilar del Castillo (EPP, Spain) became a casualty of a language dispute over Fabrizio Bertot's (EPP, Italy) report on the committee's opinion on a draft directive on packaging and packaging waste to reduce the consumption of plastic carrier bags.

Werner Langen (EPP, Germany) refused to take a position on the directive because the amendments were not available in his language. A large enough number of MEPs followed suit to cause the vote to be postponed.

Belgian MEP Philippe Lamberts (Greens-EFA) then went in for the kill, suggesting that the two reports should be treated identically: if one had to be postponed for language reasons, the other should be as well.

After an hour's debate...