“She has the mends in her own hands”* - Commissioner Reding saving the day for SMEs?

Posted on December 21, 2007 | Filed Under communication technologies 

attention slippery surfaceNever let the facts stand in the way of a good story - Commissioner Reding, a former journalist, seems to stick to this (alleged) maxim of tabloid journalism (see for an earlier instance e.g. here). A few days ago, she accepted an award given to her by a German publisher, honoring her achievements for small and medium-sized enterprises. Reding’s speech at this event mainly consists of the usual telecoms-reform marketing phrases, as always slightly geared to the event; so here she pointed out that the Commission, when drafting the proposals, thought foremost of SMEs. It is an interesting revelation, since SMEs are mentioned neither in the Communication accompanying the proposals nor in the Impact Assessment summary, and are just briefly mentioned in passing in the complete 150-page Impact Assessment. So obviously a lot of thinking done by the Commission about SMEs did not make it into the texts.

But the really striking passage of her speech is this sentence:

“Erst vor wenigen Tagen habe ich auch im TK-Bereich kräftig dereguliert, in dem ich 50% der Regulierungsmaßnahmen und -verfahren von einem Tag auf den anderen abgeschafft habe.”

(Here is my rough English translation for this: “Just a few days ago I substantially deregulated the telecoms-sector, by doing away with 50% of regulatory measures and procedures from one day to the next.”)

This, of course, is plain nonsense. Obviously, what Reding refers to is the Recommendation on Relevant Markets, and we know from press releases that the Commission has decided on 13 November 2007 to amend this recommendation by reducing the number of relevant markets (see earlier posts here and here). I don’t particularly mind that (a) 13 November 2007 was more than “a few days ago”, (b) the new recommendation still is not published in the Official Journal (update/correction: as the recommendation is addressed to the member states, it takes effect once it is notified to them), and (c) it was the Commission, rather than Reding all by herself, who decided that. (Still it would be nice if there were at least one true piece of information in this sentence.)

But stating that she did away with 50% of regulatory measures from one day to the next is not only silly, but also discredits the recommendation itself. Should the recommendation be published some day in the future (there is still hope!), nothing changes in the substance of the market analysis that NRAs have to carry out according to the Framework Directive, the only changes are procedural and concern the Commission’s veto-powers under Article 7 of the Framework Directive. And while these procedural changes should not be underestimated, one thing is certain: changing the recommendation does not remove one single regulatory measure anywhere in the EU. Â

I am aware that speeches or press releases may need to be simplified. But they need not be in complete disregard of the facts.

* Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida, Act I, Scene 1

About this Post
author: hans peter | Permalink | | Print This Article |


Comments

Leave a Reply