Speaking to EURACTIV, Dutch state secretary for economic affairs Frank Heemskerk rejected allegations that his country was "backtracking" on liberalising its postal market, saying he was committed to the fight for a level playing field across Europe.
As rules on liberalising Europe's postal markets look set to be adopted in the New Year, Pál Szabó, CEO of Hungary's Magyar Posta, points to a number of "bad experiences" in countries that have already opened up their postal markets to competition and stresses the need for a "sustainable financing solution" to allow incumbent operators to continue providing citizens with quality services.
With Portugal currently at the EU's helm, the country's Public Works, Transport and Communications Minister Mário Lino talks exclusively to EURACTIV about achieving a compromise between all 27 member states on the sensitive issue of opening up national postal markets to competition, and describes the main elements of a deal that he believes will garner the backing of his 26 European counterparts.
Derek Holt, director at independent economics consultancy Oxera shares his view with EURACTIV on how to finance the universal-service obligation in the context of further liberalisation in the European postal sector.
While the goal of liberalising the postal sector is more or less broadly backed, divisions remain as to the 'when' and the 'how', says Professor Paul R. Kleindorfer, an expert on postal liberalisation, in an interview with EURACTIV.
The European institutions are currently hammering out the details of a Directive, which, if approved by EU states and the European Parliament, should lead to the complete liberalisation of postal services in Europe. German MEP Markus Ferber (EPP-ED), who is in charge of steering the proposal through Parliament, tells EURACTIV what he expects from the new rules, before the vote in plenary on 5 June 2007.
Click here to read a shortened version of the interview.
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