A breakfast meeting Friday touted as the make-or-break moment for the telecoms single market package proved disappointing to participants, who had hoped for progress towards banning mobile roaming charges and securing open Internet access. Sources in the room did say, however, that the croissants weren’t bad.
Telecoms ministers from EU countries, the Latvian presidency of the Council and Commissioner Günther Oettinger met in Luxembourg first thing Friday morning for a debate on the reforms.
After the breakfast, which Oettinger co-hosted with the Latvian presidency’s Anrijs Matīss, the group continued their discussions in the Telecoms Council with digital single market Commissioner Andrus Ansip.
With the presidency due to rotate from the Latvians to Luxembourg at the end of June, Parliament and Commission had hoped that the presence of the ministers at the breakfast and subsequent meeting would be a circuit breaker for the deadlocked reforms.
Belgium’s deputy prime minister Alexander De Croo, who has the telecoms portfolio and was in the Telecom Council, expressed disappointment at the lack of agreement.
“Countries that put their national interests above the interests of European citizens and businesses are fundamentally erring,” De Croo said in a statement. “Abandoning an outdated and anti-European roaming system will have a much greater economic return than desperately trying to hold on to the past. The abolition of roaming charges is a fundamental building block of a single European digital market.”
Commissioner Oettinger had tweeted on Thursday: “I’m meeting European Telecom Ministers to discuss #TSM. I wish they’re ambitious enough to finally agree on abolishing #roaming in Europe.”
Jens Rohde, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe’s shadow rapporteur for telecoms regulation, had also struck an optimistic tone, saying: “I am hopeful we will finally see some movement from the Council, now that ministers are involved.”
While over a dozen ministers’ RSVPs were received for the event, a person in the room said only eight ministers showed up. This was disputed by another source, who said 10 ministers attended. The rest were represented by secretaries and vice ministers. The lower-than-expected turnout was part of the problem, POLITICO was told.
Another problem was complexity of the technical details involved.
“It’s hard to understand the last minute things in the discussions, and the ministry is not the level to bring out the detail. It’s more about top-level, political things,” a parliamentary insider said on Thursday.
The Latvian presidency tabled two questions for discussion at the breakfast. Firstly, they asked ministers if they would support reaching an early second reading agreement on the proposal ahead of the European Council meeting of June 25 and 26.
The second question: what were their “red lines and margins for flexibility” on the package.
The lines in the sand are clear: Council wants to wait until 2018 for a roaming ban, Parliament is insisting on 2016, there’s dispute over what constitutes a fair use of roaming and what might be considered cross-border SIM card abuse, and on the scope of the net neutrality rules.
There are also hurt feelings to contend with. Council sources told POLITICO they’ve been unfairly targeted by the Commission for criticism.
With the high hopes for Friday’s breakfast talks crumbling, it’s back to the drawing board.
POLITICO hears that Parliament has now sent Council their latest compromise proposal, which concedes to the deletion of a chapter on end user rights by the Council on the condition that the provisions are embedded in the text on roaming and neutrality.
A copy of the text seen by POLITICO states: “During discussions, it has unfortunately been very challenging to encourage the Council to engage in a constructive dialogue on these provisions. In order for the EP to support a final deal on this package, it is absolutely vital that end users are equipped with the relevant tools to ensure their rights are indeed safeguarded.”
Whether a fourth trilogue happens during the Latvian presidency remains to be seem, but several sources say the Latvians remain hopeful of a last minute deal.
Others at member-state level are not so sure. “I don’t think this presidency will do it,” said POLITICO’s insider. “Very frustrating.”