S&Ds criticise member states for insistence on keeping roaming charges

S&Ds criticise member states for insistence on keeping roaming charges

EU member states in the Council today decided to delay the abolition of roaming charges to 2018, three years later than the Parliament had requested. The Socialists and Democrats regret this delay and criticised important shortcomings in the Council’s proposal for a Single Telecoms Market, such as the absence of any mention of consumer rights or of harmonising the spectrum.
 
S&D vice-president Kathleen Van Brempt MEP said:
 
"We have been waiting for almost a year to hear what member states had to say and we are confronted with a very weak proposal.

“The Parliament had called for all telephone calls and data to be exempted from roaming charges within the European Union, but member states want to charge for any voice or data traffic over 5 megabytes. This is a huge difference.
 
“On net neutrality, national ministers have also weakened the Parliament’s proposal. Although the intention remains to deal with data exchange in a non-discriminatory way, it remains unclear how this will be implemented.”
 
S&D spokesperson on the Single Telecoms Market, MEP Patrizia Toia, said:
 
"The governments’ proposal to maintain roaming rates for three more years is unacceptable, because it forces European consumers to continue paying anachronistic, excessive rates.  It hinders the emergence of a single digital market and slows growth.
 
“Net neutrality is an absolute necessity, not only to protect consumers but also to ensure that innovative start-ups can develop, as well as ensuring fair competition on an open internet.”