No to the liberalization of the postal market in Norway, says Postkom
In a statement sent to the government, Postkom says that the EU's postal policy can be justified in large populations and dense parts of Europe but is not sustainable in a country that has Norway's geographic topography, industry and population density. Liberalization will result in negative consequences for post-service prices, services and quality in large parts of the country.
The market will only work where the mail services are profitable. The unprofitable parts will have to be financed by the state. Postkom thinks it is absurd that the government should pay hundreds of millions kroners whereas private actors can make money in a liberalized mail market.
By opening the market for full liberalization, it is the provinces, and particularly the people employed there, who are the big losers. Lower price as a result of the competition will only be noticed in the densely populated areas. These prices will weaken the opportunities for businesses in the provinces to compete with businesses in key areas. In a later stage, this will have a negative impact on the local business and industry opportunities. Implementation of the directive will undermine the prospects for maintaining the decentralized economic and demographic structure of Norway.
Wages and working conditions will be put under further pressure. Experiences from countries where liberalisation has occurred, show that the new postal operators primarily compete at the price of labor. This means that workers receive lower wages and working conditions. Deterioration of wages and working conditions are in fact an important competitive advantage and the risk of social dumping is evident also in Norway.
Implementation of the Third postal directive is also a bad environmental policy, because competition will lead to a parallel drives, paths and flights. This will mean a significantly increased burden on the environment in the form of higher CO2 emissions and increased consumption of material.
Postkom requires that there be in Norway a policy that ensures for all parts of the country, good and affordable postal services on equal terms. We are therefore opposed to implementing the Third EU postal directive. Our claim is that the government makes use of the reservation right provided by the agreement with the EU, or that it ensures radical changes in the directive