Last Friday (14 November), national diplomats adopted a rather conservative position on the telecoms review, ruling out some of the Commission's main proposals, in particular regarding the EU's ability to veto national decisions and a plan to establish a new body to oversee telecoms matters at European level.
In addition, national delegates turned down Commission proposals to reallocate radio spectrum, a diplomatic source told EurActiv.
The standoff might lead to approval of the telecoms package being postponed. Approval is currently programmed for mid-2009, when the current Parliament and Commission will reach the end of their mandates. MEPs involved in the negotiations sent a letter to the Council last week, pushing for a compromise solution. The Council will meet in Brussels on 27 November.
Diplomats said that ongoing negotiations in the EU Council of Ministers "are not taking into account" the Commission's revised proposal, which the EU executive officially put forward on 7 November in defiance of the key modifications put forward by the Parliament in a vote last September (EurActiv 28/10/08). Diplomats underlined that the text had been presented "too late" in view of what had already been decided during the early stages of negotiations last year. The original Commission proposal was published in November 2007.
Veto power and new authority
In its revised proposal, the Commission suggested introducing a veto power over decisions taken by national regulators. This would aid real harmonisation of the European telecoms market and favour cross-border services, according to the EU executive. Instead, national capitals want to give the Commission the power to issue non-binding opinions or recommendations.
The Council also rejects the idea of a new body to deal with telecoms matters at Community level, as proposed by the Commission. Germany and Spain are in favour of maintaining the status quo, in which the European forum dealing with telecoms issues is the European Regulators Group (ERG), a body with an advisory role and composed of national authorities.
As a compromise between the most conservative positions within the Council and the Commission's line, national delegates voted to strengthen the ERG. They ruled out the idea of creating a truly European body with its own funding and staff. According to the Council, the ERG's president should be nominated by its members, and not simply be a choice between a few names proposed by the Commission. Decisions within the ERG should be taken by majority.
Radio spectrum
The Council is also set to radically reject the Commission's proposal on radio spectrum. The EU executive proposed flexible reallocation of frequencies in order to better exploit the radio bands that will be freed up by the switchover from analogical to digital television, the so-called 'digital dividend'. On the other hand, the Commission also pushed for the harmonisation of the use of frequencies across member states.
But national diplomats consider the Commission's proposals "confounding". "By pushing at the same time for more harmonisation and more flexibility, the Commission is going in two opposite directions," a diplomat told EurActiv.
More flexibility is not considered feasible for political and technical reasons. Politically, no state wants to give up frequencies used by televisions to provide services with a social and political impact. Technically, there is a risk that using different services on the same frequency, such as broadcasting or mobile telephony, might cause interference and thus lower quality and reliability.
Member states also reject the idea of more harmonisation in the use of frequencies, which they say risks making spectrum use less flexible and less efficient than it is now.
