Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-05-15-Speech-4-114"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20030515.5.4-114"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, I would not normally rise to speak on this issue, which is handled very competently by my colleague Mr Ferber, who is one of the most vigorous champions of postal service liberalisation, but who also works tirelessly to ensure that the customer's interests and rights and consumer protection are taken seriously in the European Union.
I have risen today because I believe that we really must press hard – as my fellow Members have pointed out – to ensure absolute transparency. I would like to thank the Commissioner for the plans that she has announced. However, it must be said that such transparency has often been, and continues to be, sorely missed in both the Commission and especially the Council, although, of course, we also demand absolute transparency from the postal services as well.
Moreover, and I fully endorse what my fellow Members have said on this issue, we of course need Parliament to be in a strong position in terms of its legal status. We need codecision. We must be quite clear about this, because no one else, apart from this House, represents the interests of postal service users adequately. I would like to make one thing quite clear: the reports which have appeared in the media in the last few days – my fellow Member has already mentioned them – which claim that value added tax is to be imposed on postage stamps really are designed to generate anti-European feeling among European Union citizens. I really do urge you to bury these plans as swiftly as possible. I do not mean that you should play them down, I mean that you should bury them. I do not think that it is the European Union's task to put forward this type of proposal, which is completely half-baked and really only has an impact on consumers.
Secondly, let me say this: we must ensure – and this too has already been mentioned – that the postal services, notwithstanding all the liberalisation which we are trying to achieve, of course also continue to have a key social function. As we know, our society is increasingly fragmenting into those who can make dynamic use of modern technology and those who cannot. We must not forget the people in peripheral regions, the socially weak, and the increasing numbers of old people. The age pyramid is turning on its head. In many Member States, the postal systems seem to combine all the disadvantages of the old state monopolies with the shortcomings of the new liberalised market, instead of creating synergies by drawing on the positive aspects of both new systems. This clearly demonstrates the problems associated with the current transition period, especially for customers, as well as the serious lack of transparency. Let me give you just one example:
removed large numbers of post boxes throughout Germany by stealth. In my electoral district, there is a hotel called '
', which has provided postal services for centuries. Overnight, its post box was dismantled, causing damage to the building's façade. The licensee, whose family has operated a posthouse in conjunction with the hotel for centuries, was deliberately not informed. Just imagine the scenario: so many post boxes have been removed that the ones in Munich are now overflowing. It has actually become impossible to post a letter in the city centre at certain times of the day: the number of post boxes has been cut back to such an extent that they are completely full by the afternoon. That is not competition. That is not customer-friendly conduct. It shows that there is also still a tendency to think in terms of the old monopoly structures while ruthlessly ignoring what was perhaps their social dimension, namely the provision of a service to citizens and a service to customers.
I therefore believe that we need as much market as possible, as quickly as possible. We need as much transparency as possible as quickly as possible. However, we also need minimum standards of consumer protection in areas where the market alone cannot regulate the problems that arise, which means the areas I have described, in particular. I therefore believe that it is essential to press ahead with this process, not only through communications and Green Papers and so forth, but by working in close cooperation with the European Parliament on a legal basis which enables us, the only legitimate representatives of the European citizens and hence the postal service users, properly to monitor this complex process, which profoundly affects the life of every individual, and ensure that it is economically profitable, socially just, and compatible with people's needs."@en1
|
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
"Zur Post"1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples