Parliament vote on postal services liberalisation strikes a good balance - UEAPME

UEAPME, the European craft and SME employers’ organisation, welcomed the outcomes of the plenary vote on the Postal Services Directive at the European Parliament today (Wednesday). MEPs cast their vote in favour of the full accomplishment of the internal market for postal services by 2011, two years later than the deadline initially suggested by the European Commission and supported by UEAPME.

UEAPME, the European craft and SME employers’ organisation, welcomed the outcomes of the plenary vote on the Postal Services Directive at the European Parliament today (Wednesday).

MEPs cast their vote in favour of the full accomplishment of the internal market for postal services by 2011, two years later than the deadline initially suggested by the European Commission and supported by UEAPME.

Despite this delay, UEAPME was pleased to see the European Parliament acting in favour of liberalisation while at the same time reinforcing safeguards for “universal service”. This is of the utmost importance for small users of postal services such as crafts and SMEs, which have no bargaining power with service providers and cannot benefit from economies of scale as larger enterprises.

“Opening up the provision of postal services in Europe is an important step towards the completion of the internal market”, said Luc Hendrickx, UEAPME Director for Enterprise Policy and External Relations.

“A wider choice of operators and delivery services can only be welcomed. However, it must be clear that liberalisation should not endanger the permanent provision of quality postal services, which must be available everywhere in the EU territory and at affordable prices. Today’s vote goes exactly in this direction”, he continued.

UEAPME is the employers’ organisation representing crafts, trades and SMEs from the EU and accession countries at European level. UEAPME has 81 member organisations, which represent crafts and SMEs across Europe, covering over 11 million enterprises with 50 million employees. UEAPME is a European Social Partner.