MEPs: do not weaken net neutrality and end roaming costs

A group of 131 MEPs calls on the European Council not to water down the net neutrality definitions and not to postpone the abolition of roaming charges. The group insists that roaming charges will disappear as of December 15, 2015.

The 131 MEPs have expressed their concerns about the plans of the European Council in a letter to the President of the European Union, Italy. The proposal for European telecom legislation is on the agenda of the Council on Thursday. Italy wants to remove the definition of net neutrality from the proposal and replace it with weaker rules, which give providers more options to slow down and block certain internet traffic, it emerged last week. “Net neutrality is necessary for equal conditions for companies and start-ups, but the public value of the open internet should not be underestimated,” says D66 MEP Marietje Schaake, who signed the document. The new European Commissioner for ICT, Andrus Ansip, is also against weakening.

In addition, Italy is proposing to abolish roaming charges within the EU later than 15 December 2015, giving carriers longer the option to charge citizens more when traveling within the EU. Italy fears carriers are raising rates in the home country to compensate for the loss of roaming revenue. However, MEPs call on the Council to stick to mid-December 2015 for the end of roaming charges.

Incidentally, the forthcoming decision of the European Council, consisting of ministers from all member states, must then still be submitted to the European Parliament. “The European Parliament will not accept a weaker result in the final vote,” Schaake claims. In April of this year, parliament supported a ‘strong’ net neutrality and the abolition of roaming charges by a large majority.