It has been quite a while since the EU split over a piece of legislation, but there are signs that this blissful state is about to end. The past few months of peace were, after all, caused by the uncertainty surrounding the next French president. Who would succeed tired Jacques Chirac? Just how obstructive and protectionist would his successor be?

Since Nicholas Sarkozy triumphed in from last week’s election, much of that uncertainty has now been removed. And while it is too early for France’s partners to reopen negotiations on sensitive dossiers quite yet, you can hear the legislative machine creaking back into action all over Brussels.

Perhaps the most important draft proposal emerging from its winter sleep is the Commission’s plan for full postal liberalisation by 2009. It is a controversial one, as it once more pits the Union’s northern liberalisers against the southern and western defenders of state interventionism. Put more cynically, it is a showdown between countries that have strong, well-run and privatised postal groups (and which would like to see them expand in other countries) against the majority of states that are stuck with a state-owned postal operator, little competition and a fear of foreign intrusion.

France, you might have guessed, belongs in the second category. To be fair, ordinary Frenchmen remain passionately attached to La Poste’s commitment to serving smaller communities, and its "general service obligation" - meaning a commitment to retain a high level of service without paying too much attention to efficiency and profitability. Mr Sarkozy - already reviled by the left for what they see as his attachment to Anglo-Saxon "neo-liberalism" - will want to tread carefully on this dossier.

Charlie McCreevy, the EU internal market commissioner and the architect of the 2009 proposal, fired his first salvo on Monday. Speaking to an audience in Sofia, Mr McCreevy declared: "I have called this proposal a litmus test for the single market. A test to demonstrate member states’ commitment to reform and restructuring in the interest of promoting growth and employment. Listening to the opposition levelled at the proposal, I can only wonder how attached many opponents really are to the single market."

There was further excitement that day after the German press reported that Berlin had struck a preliminary deal with Paris on the issue, postponing full liberalisation until 2011. Diplomats and officials denied the story, and indeed it would seem strange for the two sides to be even talking about the draft law before Mr Sarkozy has moved into the Elyssee.

But at the very least, it shows that things are finally starting to move again. France is back from its bout of electoral introspection. From postal services to the constitution, from state aid policy to enlargement, the country and its leader will soon make their presence felt in Brussels. 

May 14th, 2007 in European postal services | Permalink