Text tabled : A6-0155/2007

  Ilda Figueiredo (GUE/NGL), in writing. (PT) This regulation states that its ultimate aim is to ‘create a smooth-running European internal market in telecommunications.’ This, as the report says, is because ‘self-regulation does not work’.

It is interesting to note, in this case, the acknowledgement that the market does not work. Hence the need to regulate prices. They therefore propose both wholesale and retail price regulation, including the creation of a regulated retail price – Eurotariff – which all operators will be obliged to offer, in order to achieve a significant reduction in the price of roaming. Even so, the possibility remains of huge profit margins for the large operators in the sector. That being said, there are advantages for consumers: cheaper international calls, without this cost being transferred to national markets, and the freedom to choose the most favourable operator and tariff.

This is another example of the ‘market’ clearly not protecting users and consumers, and this is why regulation is needed. It is high time the Commission and the Member States acknowledged this in other areas and brought benefit to consumers.