MEPs will return next week to their constituency and prepare for the next plenary session of the European Parliament in Brussels, 6-7 June 2007.

Highlights of the agenda include:-

 

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Cheaper mobile roaming rates - MEPs vote on new EU rules

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SUMMARY

The European Parliament voted on Wednesday, 23 May, to put a cap on the cost of making or receiving mobile phone calls when travelling in another EU Member State. MEPs are now pushing for the new rates to come into effect before the summer holidays.

The text of the Regulation, agreed between the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers, sets out the following:

• A cap of €0.49 (33p) a minute on the cost of making a roaming call within the EU, with this rate to fall to €0.43 (29p) by 2009;
• A maximum charge of €0.24 (16p) a minute to receive a roaming call, with this to fall to €0.19 (12p) by 2009;
• Customers will have two months after being offered the Eurotariff by their operators to choose whether they want to opt for it; if they make no choice, they would be given the Eurotariff unless they already benefited from a specific roaming package;

The Regulation contains a sunset clause whereby it will lapse after three years. The European Commission will assess whether an extension should be proposed.

Next steps: Following this European Parliament 1st reading, the Council of Ministers now has to give its formal approval and the Regulation must be published in the EU Official Journal before it enters into force. The Council is expected to agree the text in June, with publication in the Official Journal shortly after.

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DEBATE

Excerpts from Wednesday's debate (23 May 2007) in Strasbourg

Nigel Farage (UKIP, South East): I want to say thank you on behalf of the super-rich in Europe –not the people that just go to Benidorm for a fortnight, but those that travel regularly... But above all, I want to thank you personally. I use this piece of kit an enormous amount. Your proposals are going to make me personally better off by €3,000 a year. In fact, I wish to declare an interest. I will not be voting on the Rübig report, as I am personally affected by it, and I would recommend that other MEPs abstain from the vote. We should not be voting on issues which will help to line our own pockets.

This will lead to higher costs for domestic consumers. It will lead to less competition and innovation in the market place. It is yet another giant EU folly.

Giles Chichester (Conservative, South West): I would like to say this measure represents a win-win situation for the EU because we are actually doing something practical for our consumers.

We are addressing a market failure. A specific market failure but a short-term one I hope, and it is significant that we have the sunset clause to show that we expect this situation to be rectified and competition to assert itself in this part of the market. We owe it to innocent tourists and consumers to save them from suffering that nasty shock when they come back from travelling on holiday – or even business – of being charged for receiving a call and having a huge bill. We owe it to them to fix it. We may hope for something like 60% savings on the average charge for a roaming call, and this is of material benefit to our consumers.

Alyn Smith (SNP, Scotland): The package before us today... will impose transparency, rights to information and a protective tariff which will see reductions of up to 70%, and will protect vast swathes –hundreds of millions– of our citizens. Crucially, it is time-limited to three years to specifically correct the market failure, whereupon we will revisit the subject... I will have no difficulty commending this Europe of results to my constituents in Scotland.

Arlene McCarthy (Labour, North West): The Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee first raised this issue in 2005 when in a hearing we responded to consumer complaints on excessive charging and now in 2007 this Parliament has shown it can deliver for consumers. So this is good news and we want this to come in as early as possible. We want consumers to continue to benefit from this, even after the three years when the law will lapse, but consumers should be aware that the costs of using their mobile phone for internet access or texting is still excessive. Commissioner, we would ask you to act in this area.

Eluned Morgan (Labour, Wales): It is not an ideal solution, but it is the only option left to control those who abuse the market. Let this be a lesson to other industries. One of the things we discovered in our discussions with mobile companies was that much roaming traffic is kept in-house as customers are directed on to partner networks. So for many roaming companies, wholesale prices are simply a way of ensuring different parts of the same company benefit. When we understand this, the market price for consumers becomes even more exorbitant. This is a victory for consumers, a victory for the European Parliament and a victory for the European Union.

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LINKS

Debate of 23 May 2007 in the speakers' original language:
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+CRE+20070523+ITEM-003+DOC+XML+V0//EN&language=EN

Text adopted by the European Parliament (23 May 2007):
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P6-TA-2007-0199+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN&language=EN

Report by Paul Rübig MEP on the proposal for a Regulation on mobile roaming (A6-0155/2007) :
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/omk/sipade3?PROG=REPORT&SORT_ORDER=D&REF_A=A6-2007-0155&L=EN

Summary of procedure in the European Parliament's Legislative Observatory: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/file.jsp?id=5372302

 

UK MEPs contact details:

• Nigel Farage MEP: http://www.europarl.org.uk/requetes/farage.asp
• Giles Chichester MEP: http://www.europarl.org.uk/requetes/chichester.asp
• Alyn Smith MEP: http://www.europarl.org.uk/requetes/smith.asp
• Arlene McCarthy MEP: http://www.europarl.org.uk/requetes/mccarthy.asp
• Eluned Morgan MEP: http://www.europarl.org.uk/requetes/morgan.asp

 

More Latest News from the plenary session of 21-24 May 2007:-

 

Dutch and Italian Prime Ministers

Dutch PM Jan Peter Balkenende told MEPs (Wednesday): "The Netherlands is in favour of a more traditional document, in the same vein as the Treaties of Amsterdam or Nice. We need to continue with the Monnet method: moving ahead via small, but significant increments [...] we want an EU that operates more democratically. Secondly, we want an EU that can take decisions and act on them. The Dutch Prime Minister addressed the EP just one day after Italian Prime Minister had also set out his vision to MEPs.

Parliament adopted by 672 votes to 13 with 10 abstentions a first-reading report toughening up proposed rules on improving the quality of surface water. This represents another step on the road to cleaning up Europe's water, following the directives on bathing water in 2005 and groundwater in 2006.