April 11th - 12th 2007 Brussels Commentary Employment Committee

11 April 2007

Brussels Commentary Employment Committee April 11th - 12th 2007 This was a quiet two day session but the Postal Directive which I had highlighted in an earlier commentary was debated and voted on. I made the following intervention,- " Mr President, I do not normally support nationalisation , preferring private enterprise but for the post I do believe in a national system. The main reason for privatisation is to give the customer choice but for the ordinary person, ie most people, there is no choice in a privatised postal service. Unless, that is, for posting letters you have the crazy idea of different post boxes, in different colours, for different companies all lined up together! Over the last few years in the UK post offices have been closing by the hundred, many in rural areas. But post offices are more than just a postal service, in small communities they are a focal point for social life. So you are asking this committee, the Employment and Social affairs Committee, to contemplate approving a directive which will cost jobs and destroy a part of the social fabric! In addition, many people are complaining of a poorer service as domestic receivers, getting late post, or no post at all. We also have rising prices. For instance, if I want to send a nice document this size (waving an A4 sheet) without folding it I pay more than if I fold it in half and use a smaller envelope. Barmy. Much of this nonsense is due to the liberalisation of postal services which came in a few years ago. Here commercial firms bid for, and take, the lucrative part, the business mail. We all know what happens then. My own bank envelopes come with a commercial firm's logo; the various branches email the details to a central department, where statements are prepared, one truck takes it all away and they only have to deliver to main postcode areas. The post office then takes over the expensive part, sorting to local areas and final delivery, as well as collecting individual mailings from all the post boxes. The result of taking this lower cost part from the post office is to raise the cost of their remaining business. So prices rise, jobs are lost and social amenities are destroyed. Its barmy, quite loopy. I shall therefore vote against adopting this directive, which I know is hopeless, so I will support the rapporteur's amendments which seek to postpone the date of implementation." PS. The rapporteur was Stephen Hughes, Labour North East and he thanked me in open committee for my support! The following day a committee vice-president, Thomas Mann, PPE, Germany, remarked that he found my contribution very interesting! Clearly he had not considered the implications of privatisation of the post. Listening to the rest its pretty clear than not too many others had either. Derek Clark MEP Brussels April12th 2007