As EU Lawmakers, Commissioners Change, Key Telecom Issues Remain

The industry committee, which takes the lead on many telecom issues, will concentrate on completing the reform package, parliament said. The measure -- blocked this month when members approved an amendment barring Internet cutoff without a court order -- will “likely” end up in conciliation proceedings between Parliament and the Council of Ministers, Parliament said. Governments vote June 12 on whether to accept the legislative version, it said.

The next industry committee will also deal with the possible introduction of EU-level criminal punishments for copyright violations, the extension of the copyright term of protection to 70 years from 50, and a revamp of rules protecting audiovisual works, Parliament said. The civil liberties committee will take up a proposal to protect the EU against attacks on information systems, Parliament said.

Parliamentary committee assignments will be made in June and early July, sources said. Committee assignments, particularly those of the report-writers, are important to how issues are handled, said Director General Ross Biggam of the Association for Commercial Television in Europe. Important spokespeople for the Culture Committee, the lead panel on TV matters, are expected to leave, he said. The national experiences of their replacements will affect their approaches, he said. But the proportions of the three main political blocs -- the center-right European People’s Party/European Democrats, Socialists, and Alliance of Liberal Democrats in Europe -- aren’t expected to change much, officials said.

EC Timetable Uncertain

Current EC commissioners will remain in office at least through October, said a spokesman for Viviane Reding, the information society and media commissioner. They will keep working on the digital dividend, next-generation access, online content and other issues until they're replaced, he said.

When the new commissioners are seated depends on final ratification of the Lisbon Treaty updating EU and European Community pacts, the spokesman said. Ireland, which rejected it earlier, is expected to hold a second referendum in October, he said. If the treaty is adopted, it will change the number of commissioners to 27, one for each EU member, from 26, the spokesman said. The earliest it would take effect is Dec. 1, he said. If Irish voters reject it again, several months of uncertainty may result, Biggam said.

The next EC president, expected to be incumbent Jose Manuel Barroso, will be nominated in July, an official said. Reding is on leave from the EC to lead the European Parliament campaign for the party of Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker. Juncker wants to retain his seat and has said that if he wins the national and European Parliament elections, he'll nominate Reding for a third five- year slot on the EC, the official said. Whether she stays on is up to the EC president, subject to vetting by EU lawmakers, the official said. Reding is rumored either to be pushing hard to retain her slot or to be interested in serving in the European Parliament, others said.

All Eyes on Telecom Package

Revamping e-communications regulations will be the “first thing” for the new EU Parliament to take up, said Secretary General Aarti Holla-Maini of the European Satellite Operators’ Association. The industry worked hard on a “healthy compromise” on central satellite issues and hopes that if the legislation goes to conciliation, discussion is limited to Internet cutoffs, she said.

If the telecom package is the “horse, we certainly see the next generation access recommendation [from the EC] as the very important cart to follow,” said Cable Europe Managing Director Caroline van Weede. If the EC is serious about promoting investment in broadband infrastructure and spurring innovation, competing networks are a great way to give consumers better prices and more choice, she said. Creating an environment favorable to private investment in new broadband networks “must remain priority number one,” said a spokesman for the European Telecommunications Network Operators’ Association.

How to use spectrum freed by digital switchover is still at issue, several officials said. The current EC will adopt an outline for a recommendation on using the digital dividend, Reding’s spokesman said. “Obviously this will be a priority for all players in the market who will be affected by such decisions,” van Weede said.

Digital Issues In Play

Copyright questions remain contentious, officials said. Broadcasters want a simpler way of clearing rights when they offer Internet services, said Woute Gekiere, European affairs adviser to the European Broadcasting Union. The EC is expected to propose an EU-wide license for digital content but the timetable is unclear, he said. Protection of content and ISP liability for policing their own networks “will not go away” whatever agreement is reached on the telecom package amendment on Internet access termination, Biggam said. The International Federation for Phonographic Industry didn’t immediately comment.

The net neutrality argument, which surfaced in the telecom revamp debate, may gain importance in the next Parliament and EC, Biggam said. Another of ACT’s issues, media pluralism - media ownership, access to varied information from several sources, and guarantees that media are seen as genuinely independent - is back, he said, and an EC communication is due at year-end. Many suspect that the new EC also will review the 2001 copyright directive, he said.