Van Miert’s powers under fire

Date: 12/06/1997

COMPETITION Commissioner Karel van Miert will need to perform a Houdini escape act if he is to emerge from next week's Amsterdam summit negotiations on EU reform with his powers intact.

A series of proposals to curb Van Miert's ability to challenge unfair practices by public sector services has been tabled, with even the Commissioner's friends warning that his position may be weakened in the 11th-hour horse-trading which will precede a final deal.

Van Miert and friendly governments appear to have watered down one French proposal to rewrite the EU treaty by adding a new article designed to ring-fence public services against investigation by European Commission competition officials.

But the Commission now faces a fresh proposal for action from the French, specific demands from Germany to protect its public banks from any competition probe, and a Dutch-Belgian suggestion that public broadcasters be given similar immunity.

Ahead of the summit, France has withdrawn its plan to rewrite Article 90 of the EU treaty, which allows for public services to be exempt from competition rules in specific circumstances, after the idea attracted only lukewarm support.

Paris originally wanted Article 90 to be redrafted expressly to exempt services such as electricity and gas supply and postal delivery from all competition scrutiny. It has, however, bounced back with a proposal for a weaker protocol which, say opponents, could have much the same effect.

France is calling on governments and EU institutions to define public services and spell out how they fulfil their role. Officials warn that this vague wording could open the Commission up to court challenges if it intervened against public services.

Meanwhile, most governments appear to support a Dutch-Belgian plan to add a new protocol to the treaty excluding public television from competition rules. Two drafts have been completed: one excluding all public television activities from Commission scrutiny and a second suggesting that only their specific public service duties should be afforded such protection. There are signs that the latter already has support from nine governments.

Europe's private television stations say even this weaker version would obstruct Commission investigations.

Finally, Germany's last-minute bid to prevent any Commission scrutiny of unfair practices by public banks could be written into the final treaty.

Although the UK, Scandinavian countries and the Netherlands are said to be outraged by this German attack on competition rules, Chancellor Helmut Kohl has put his considerable weight behind the idea.