After suffering an initial blow following the Parliament's clear opposition to the creation of a new EU body to oversee the telecoms sector, Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding tried to guarantee stronger powers for the European Commission even without a new authority in an industry worth 3% of the EU's overall GDP.
During the last parliamentary debate on the telecoms review before the final plenary vote (scheduled for 23 September), Reding called for the Commission to be granted a sort of veto power against regulatory measures adopted at national level which are not in line with the EU approach.
Furthermore, Reding insisted that a European financial umbrella be introduced for whatever body is in charge of harmonising national authorities' positions, whether it be a stronger ERG, the current ERG or something else entirely.
Again, the response from the Parliament was not conciliatory. In particular, the idea of the new body being covered by the EU budget was opposed, on grounds of both independence from the Commission and EU budget limitations.
At stake here is ultimate control of the new body, designed to monitor critical developments of the telecoms sector. EU money would mean more Commission involvement. National funding would leave the current situation unchanged, with some national authorities considered too financially weak to be regarded as independent from governments.
The French EU Presidency reported divisions within the Council on the subject, suggesting that further debates are needed to establish a common position by the next Telecoms Council, scheduled for 27 November.
