News

The European Parliament’s Committees on industry and on the internal market and consumer protection have voted on the so-called telecom package in the beginning of July. Prior to the votes, UNI Europa had already sent a letter to the Members of the European Parliament demanding the inclusion of workers as stakeholders in the legislative process and expressing UNI’s concerns with regard to the functional separation as proposed by the European Commission.



UNI Europa welcomes the result of the Committees’ votes as an important first step into the right direction. Though the concept of functional separation has not been completely abandoned by the Parliamentarians, they propose that national regulatory authorities will have to analyse the expected impact on the workforce of a company and give evidence that there is no prospect of infrastructure-based competition within a reasonable timeframe before actually proposing functional separation as an exceptional measure.



The two Committees have voted amendments rejecting the planned European Electronic Communications Market Authority, a body that would have had the power to overrule national regulatory authorities. Instead, MEPs want to establish a new Body of European Regulators in Telecoms as advisory group for future regulation.



Furthermore, the reports adopted by the industry and internal market Committee call on national regulatory authorities to promote investment and innovation in new and enhanced infrastructures as well as investment and risk sharing. MEPs demand better and more transparent information on prices and tariffs for consumers and clearly recognise radio frequencies as a public good with social, economic and cultural value.



The next steps in the legislative process will be the debate in plenary in the beginning of September and the plenary vote in mid-September.