Europe: Ministers will discuss but not vote on the legislative reforms adopted by the Parliament, because they have not been formally transmitted

[EurActiv] EU ministers are to discuss the bloc's telecoms package at a meeting in Luxembourg today (11 June), after the draft bill was taken hostage last month by a political row with the European Parliament over Internet users' rights. Lengthy negotiations with the newly-elected assembly now seem increasingly likely.

Today's meeting will not draw any formal conclusions, because the Parliament is yet to officially transmit its position to the EU Council of Ministers, EurActiv has learned.

"This is part of our tactics," a Parliament spokesperson told EurActiv.

Under the EU's decision-making procedure, the Parliament has four months to transmit its position to the Council. For the telecoms package, the deadline is 19 June.

But the Parliament has delayed its move on purpose in order to buy time and prevent a counter-proposal by the Council, which would have triggered a conciliation procedure within eight weeks.

Since the new Parliament has just been elected, setting up such a committee in such a short time could have proved difficult, and carried the risk of seeing the reform adopted without MEPs' consent.

Several options on the table

After 19 June, telecoms ministers have several options on the table. They could adopt the text as voted upon by Parliament, thus giving a formal green light to the telecoms package without further delay. However, this is the most unlikely solution, because it would imply bowing to MEPs, who probably broke their previous agreement as part of pre-election tactics. France is particularly opposed to this option, because it considers the Parliament's actions as being explicitly directed against an anti-piracy law recently approved by the French assembly.

A second and more likely option is for ministers to adopt a counter-proposal, restating the Council's line and formally starting the so-called conciliation procedure. That move would probably take place during the Swedish EU Presidency, in the second half of 2009.

"We are likely to have to start discussions with the new Parliament," admitted a Czech Presidency source.

In this case, the Parliament would have to form a conciliation committee, made up of 27 members representing all the EU countries. Members of the committee would be chosen from the newly-elected assembly.

The three rapporteurs for the telecoms package, MEPs Catherine Trautmann (France; PES), Pilar del Castillo (Spain; EPP) and Malcolm Harbour (UK; EPP) have all been re-elected and will sit in the committee. However, the negotiations will be led by one of the new vice-presidents of the incoming Parliament, who could turn out to be more favourable to the Council position than the rapporteurs.

In this case, a formal agreement could be reached by the end of the year.

A third option - the least conciliatory - could see the EU Council of Ministers reopen the entire dossier and ask for new negotiations to take place on the substance of the text. This option would lead to a new round of debates with an unpredictable duration and outcome.

A final option would be to split the package and adopt it bit-by-bit. But this would be difficult in practice, because it would imply modifying the current texts, which are all interlinked.

Viviane Reding, the EU's information society commissioner, sent an appeal to EU lawmakers urging them to finalise the talks swiftly. "I call on all political players to do their best in the next days and weeks to settle the last pending issue. Critics often lament about Europe's lack of competitiveness, because of the alleged length of the EU's decision-making processes. In the next days and weeks, Council and Parliament have the unique opportunity to prove these critics wrong," Reding said.

Ministers braced for final round of telecoms talks