TELECOMS : REDING'S PARTING ADVICE TO NEW COMMISSION.

EU Commissioner Viviane Reding (information society and media) will not be leaving her portfolio without leaving advice for her successor (and other commissioners). In a document, of which Europolitics has obtained a copy and which she presented to EU telecoms ministers in Brussels, on 18 December 2009, she lists the priorities and solutions for the sector, which include an online market without borders and investment in broadband internet access.

The twelve-page document is effectively Reding's Christmas present' to the new Commission. She has been a thorn in the side of certain telecoms operators (particularly after her offensive on the cost of roaming mobile calls by introducing an EU ceiling) but an excellent' commissioner for others, starting with the Swedish EU Presidency, which described her work as being "ambitious and extremely effective" and which, according to Swedish Communication Minister Asa Torstensson, allowed "the emphasis to be placed on the citizen".

Before appealing to the legal system and fundamental rights, Reding based her campaign on technology. "The internet is a world without borders, but European online markets are being kept apart by artificial barriers," she stressed. The result, she added, is that it will be necessary to review EU rules in order to liberalise online markets - a message which is also addressed to herself as she has inherited EU legislation on consumer contracts (taken back from the health and consumer protection portfolio).

A further message is directed at both the future...