Commission presents proposal for Third Postal Services Directive01/05/07 / cata_european-union-news

The EU is entering the final stages of a 15-year process to render European postal services more efficient by opening them up to competition, but Member States will have to first overcome differences of opinion regarding the speed of liberalisation. The Commission presented its proposal for a Third Postal Services Directive on 18 October 2006. The Council held a preliminary exchange of views regarding the proposal on 11 December 2006 and Parliament’s Transport Committee held a first-reading vote on a Report by German MEP Marcus Ferber (EPP-ED) on the proposal on 7 May 2007. The ministers will discuss the proposal in the Telecommunications Council on 6 - 8 June 2007. Political agreement upon the proposal is possible even though France and its allies are enough to create a blocking minority.