How a masterful bluff saved Europeans thousands and thousands of euros | EUROtoday
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VS5 euros. At the time, this was the value of a phone minute handed from one nation to a different within the European Union (EU). A bygone period. Between 2004 and 2017, the European Union fought tirelessly in opposition to phone operators to get rid of “roaming”, these roaming charges billed at an exorbitant value. Since then, a French particular person touring inside the EU has been topic to the charges of their French operator. This rule additionally applies to calls or textual content messages acquired from overseas.
This main social advance is basically the results of the fierce combat of Viviane Reding, then European Commissioner for the Information Society and Media between 2004 and 2009. This victory will stay engraved within the annals, as her techniques have been unprecedented. She confides in Point over these years of battle.
Point : Why did you resolve in 2004 to sort out “roaming” and the telecommunications business?
Viviane Reding : Being from Luxembourg, I used to be used to being surrounded by borders. We are 10 kilometers from one border, fifteen from the opposite: we’re used to leaving our nation. And so, as quickly as we wished to speak as soon as we left our little Luxembourg, we paid a excessive value.
Then, after I was in Brussels, a lot of folks spoke to me about this downside. Corresponding journalists, college students or artisans in border areas spent loopy quantities of cash to name house for only a few minutes. The stress was rising.
ARCHIVES Roaming: Europe is just not overseas! So I analyzed the prices and earnings of phone operators. I then realized that whereas the prices of permitting residents to name from exterior their borders have been actually minimal, the advantages generated by roaming have been monumental. It was nearly free cash.
We subsequently mentioned to ourselves: “Since we are not harming the industry and we are bringing a lot of good to free movement and to citizens, we can go there. »
How was your project received by telephone operators?
It was war. I was taking huge sums of money from them. Then, the big telecoms companies did not take Brussels seriously. The operators belonging at the time largely to the States, they took refuge with their finance ministers, explaining that public finances would suffer from such a measure and would go bankrupt. The governments were therefore completely against our project.
The operators were all opposed to the Commission, there were not even negotiations possible. They were sure of winning, they had the governments on their side.
Did you have the support of your colleagues in the European Parliament?
Yes, parliamentarians were contacted by citizens who explained to them their telephone bill problems. And they were directly affected. On the Allied side, the journalists were, for once, in no way critical. They only asked us: “Why hasn’t this been done yet?” » So I had Parliament and the press on my facet, however the governments in opposition.
We are then in 2007, in Hanover (Germany). Negotiations are frozen. That’s if you pulled off one of many largest bluffs in EU historical past…
Every yr a commerce honest devoted to applied sciences and telecommunications came about in Hanover. There was subsequently a crowd of journalists current for the event. Not to observe the casual assembly of Telecoms ministers, however to cowl the exhibition. But since there had been a gathering of ministers, the journalists got here to attend a press convention, simply to seek out out if the ministers had reached an settlement. But ministers had carefully prevented the topic.
I used to be then subsequent to the very sort German Minister of the Economy [Michael Glos, NDLR], who had organized the assembly. The latter requested me to talk and clarify in English all the things we had mentioned, or at the least all the things we had not mentioned.
All the cameras turned on me and I introduced that the ministers and the European Parliament had reached an settlement.
Three minutes later, there have been no extra journalists within the room, that they had all gone to announce the information to their editorial employees. In all member states, the media wrote articles presenting ministers as heroes. They had simply decided within the curiosity of the residents! Of course, the ministers had finished nothing in any respect.
Did you intend your transfer or was it spontaneous?
I hadn't deliberate it. I had thought of it, however the alternative was too good. It was time to do it. I had 100 journalists from all of the international locations current and who have been hungry. I gave them the information and so they made it a actuality.
What did the European ministers consider your maneuver?
They weren't blissful in any respect. And, on the identical time, they returned house as nationwide heroes. They didn't protest. Except the British minister.
Then progress was made little by little, why did it take so lengthy?
Our aim was to not create financial crises. The massive operators would have survived the speedy elimination of roaming charges, however not the small ones. This is why we did it on a case by case foundation.
But I bear in mind making a brand new transfer at a cellular honest in Barcelona, the place I introduced the elimination of prices for SMS. The operators have been once more horrified. The elimination of roaming prices has occurred little by little.
We did issues in two levels. We steadily bought residents used to speaking usually, first with minimal charges after which free of charge, in order to not hurt companies. It was frequent sense to do it this manner.
In greater than ten years of preventing, have you considered giving up at any level?
No, fairly the opposite. Each excessive response from the business strengthened my perception. It was nonetheless an aberration. We eradicated inner borders in Europe besides these of communication. It was insanity.
As within the Middle Ages, there was a proper of passage. We had established a kind of proper of passage to speak. This was opposite to the very essence of the person's freedom to speak. It was an entire contradiction.
You represented the European Union in its combat in opposition to telecoms operators for ten years. What do you bear in mind right now?
First of all, I realized that in politics issues don't occur in a single day. We can’t power our method by way of, we’re in a democracy, not a dictatorship. You have to point out perseverance and above all have allies. Even if I persevered, I might not have achieved something alone. But I had Parliament on my facet.
READ ALSO Derrida: “The philosopher is the one who runs risks” Good reforms typically take time. So, it’s important to get began, seize the appropriate second and take dangers. It labored for me.
Would you say that the abolition of roaming prices is among the many symbols of what the EU has been capable of convey concretely to the lives of Europeans?
Yes. But you see, fascinating level, nothing is ideal, neither in nationwide politics nor in European politics – and residents are proper to criticize – however as soon as a very good reform is made, it falls into oblivion. We don’t say “Thank you, and well done!” » however “Very well, that should have been done a long time ago…”. The reminiscence of optimistic motion shortly turns right into a pure acquisition, so we cease speaking about it and as a substitute take a look at the issues. This is the way it occurs in politics.
But allow us to always remember that the European Union has managed to grow to be a haven of peace, and God is aware of how vital that’s. New generations have by no means needed to take care of struggle and few generations within the historical past of our continent have skilled this. We have the chances to dwell freely and in democracy, to journey as and the place we want. Principles unthinkable in most different continents.
READ ALSO Phoebe – A Brief History of EuropeI want to remind you that nothing is given. And, seeing what is occurring round us, we should additionally keep in mind that nothing may be taken without any consideration and that all the things may be undone in a short time. It is as much as residents to manage the politicians they ship to Strasbourg and Brussels to signify them. Our future is at stake.
Erasmus, medical health insurance card and even the top of journey prices, the European Union has, over time, left its mark even in our most intimate every day lives. Just a few days earlier than the European elections, discover on this sequence the testimonies of these for whom being a part of the EU, or having left it, has modified their lives:
How a masterful bluff saved Europeans thousands and thousands of euros
Stay or depart: French expatriates recount their “heartbreak” after Brexit
European Health Insurance Card: “We are grateful for this great EU initiative”
“It changed my life”: how the primary Erasmus generations noticed their future turned the other way up
“Erasmus-style love”: when love goes transnational
https://www.lepoint.fr/monde/comment-un-coup-de-bluff-magistral-a-fait-economiser-des-millions-d-euros-aux-europeens-03-06-2024-2561841_24.php