The telecoms ministers rejected the telecom package as adopted by the EP

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Deutsch: [Die Telekomminister lehnen das Telekompaket in der vom EP angenommenen Form ab | http://www.unwatched.org/node/1432]

The European Commission continues to pressure the Council and the new
European Parliament to rapidly adopt the telecoms package without a proper
scrutiny of the law or any consideration of the implications of Amendment
138.

At the Luxembourg meeting on 11 June 2009, the telecoms ministers decided to
reject the telecom package in the form adopted by the European Parliament in
the second reading on 6 May 2009, thus proposing a new round of
negotiations.

The ministers consider the Parliament has breached the earlier compromise
reached with the Council on the telecoms package as a whole, obviously the
main issue under question being the controversial issue of copyright
protection and users’ rights. And with the new decision of the French
Constitutional Council against the French three strikes law, the European
Parliament will probably insist in its position.

On a press conference on 11 June, the position of the European Commission
was expressed by Viviane Reding’s spokesman Martin Selmayr who stated that
the issue of Amendment 138 had been dealt with at the national level (thus
referring to the French Constitutional Council decision) and therefore
should no longer be a European matter. Which, obviously, means that the
Commission wants the amendment dropped from the telecom package.

Reding, which has lately been supporting France’s position for the graduate
response, made an appeal to EU lawmakers urging them to finalise the
discussions on the package. “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.”

The deadline for the European Parliament to send its position to the Council
on the telecoms package is 19 June. After this, there are several options
for the telecoms ministers. One is to adopt the text as voted by the
Parliament but this is unlikely having in view their position on Amendment
138, especially the position of France in the matter.

Another option is to adopt a counter-proposal restating the Council’s
initial line which will formally start the negotiation procedure to take
place under the new Swedish presidency. In this case, the Parliament will
have to create a conciliation committee including 27 newly elected members
representing all the EU countries. A formal agreement could be reached by
the end of the year.

EU Council could also reopen the entire case asking for negotiations on the
core of the text which could lead to other debates with unpredictable
duration and results.

A technical possibility could be to split the package but this is unlikely
as the ministers have already stated they did not want to take that road.
As the text is interlinked, splitting it would mean bringing modifications
to a large part of the text.

The European Parliament’s schedule is to have a trialogue on 29 September
with a final vote on 15 December which would give time for discussion of the
issues raised by Amendment 138 and for the new MEPs to get familiarised with
these issues.

French ruling raises hopes for EU telecoms deal (11.06.2009)
http://www.euractiv.com/en/infosociety/french-ruling-raises-hopes-eu-telecoms-deal/article-183124

Commission steps up pressure on Telecoms Package (10.06.2009)
http://www.iptegrity.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=358&Itemid=9

Reding: don’t involve EU in fundamental rights (12.06.2009)
http://www.iptegrity.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=360&Itemid=9

Telecoms package remains hostage of political row (12.06.2009)
http://www.euractiv.com/en/infosociety/telecoms-package-remains-hostage-political-row/article-183137

Ministers braced for final round of telecoms talks (11.06.2009)
http://www.euractiv.com/en/infosociety/ministers-braced-final-round-telecoms-talks/article-183089

Presidency Press Statement on the state of play regarding the ‘telecoms
package’ (12.06.2009)
http://www.eu2009.cz/en/news-and-documents/news/presidency-press-statement-on-the-state-of-play-regarding-the-_telecoms-package_-25123/

EDRI-gram: European Parliament votes against the 3 strikes. Again
(6.05.2009)
http://www.edri.org/edri-gram/number7.9/ep-plenary-votes-against-3-strikes