TELECOMMUNICATIONS : TELECOMS PACKAGE LEAVES COMMISSION, EP AND COUNCIL IN DISCORD.

After a year of debate, the ambitious telecoms package proposed by the European Commission in November 2007 could be emptied of its substance. Though on 27 November the Telecoms Council only gave its decision at first reading on this reform of EU rules, which is supposed to boost competition in the sector, it is clear that EU ministers responsible for the dossier are moving toward a minimalist agreement.

However, it is difficult to see clearly the expectations of each institution. For Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding, "it is going to be very difficult to reach an agreement" between the European Parliament and member states, co-decision makers on the reform, she said at a press conference in Brussels on 19 November. "If I am optimistic, I believe that an agreement is still possible. If I am a realist, I do not foresee it for the coming months, but for the Swedish EU Presidency" in the second half of 2009, she added. For the commissioner, "the Parliament's proposals on important elements have not been taken up" in the Council's discussions.

She also announced that she preferred "not having an agreement now to having a bad agreement". The debate on the liberalisation of the radiofrequency management - the package's complex point - has also been pushed back. Reding will work with the EP and Daniel Pataki, the head of the Hungarian telecoms regulator, appointed on 19 November to be the head of the Radio Spectrum Policy Group, on the way to use the digital dividend' and in the development of a strategy announced for the second half of 2009.

AN "OPINION"

As for the Council, they state that each EP amendment was studied, and that several have been taken up in the Presidency's compromise. The two co-decision makers may be quite close, for example, regarding the introduction of the option of functional separation (possibility to split service management and network management within the dominant operator in the market in the event of a competition problem).

For the rest, ministers do not want either an EU telecoms super regulator or reinforced powers for...