Belgium Prepares to Lead Discussion on Key Telecom Policies
Belgium, assuming the EU presidency July 1, will oversee several key telecom initiatives, including the creation of a multi-year radio spectrum policy plan and a pan-European broadband strategy. Political upheaval that resulted in a caretaker government may make the country less effective at pushing the issues than other nations, several observers said.
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Creating online and “internal digital” markets are priorities, the Belgian government said. It will focus on reaching agreement with EU countries on a strategy for universal broadband by 2013, it said. That means spurring deployment of fiber networks and finding the proper balance between promoting investment in next-generation networks and maintaining a competitive market, it said. Belgium will also shepherd the beginning of work on the adoption of the radio spectrum strategy, and lead government talks on a proposal for new legislation on network and information security. Talks on cross-border Internet gambling problems will continue, the country said.
Belgium will “devote significant attention” to the EC’s interim evaluation report on mobile voice, SMS and data roaming services. In the intellectual property arena, agenda items include discussion on digital libraries, orphan works and “special priority to negotiations on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement” with a view to completing them by year’s end, the government said. Belgium has a caretaker government at the moment that can’t take political initiatives, limiting its room for maneuver, said European Digital Rights Advocacy Coordinator Joe McNamee. It’s hoping for a government by September, he said.
The effectiveness of EU presidencies turns in part on the size of the country holding the position, said Pietro Paganini, a professor of business and administration at John Cabot University in Rome. Sweden, for instance, had good ideas on privacy and NGN issues but as a small nation lacked the power and credibility to ram them through, he said. Belgium’s instability derives from political fragmentation and cultural differences between the Dutch-speaking Flemish and French-speaking Belgians, said Paganini, who studies next-generation network and privacy issues.
EU institutions are likely to view Belgium as small and weak, creating the risk that it won’t have much clout when it sits down with the Council or European Parliament, Paganini said. With the EU largely dominated by France, Germany and to some extent the U.K. after the adoption of the new Lisbon Treaty, Belgium probably won’t be able to influence much, he said. The EC digital agenda is a good one but despite Belgium’s role as the “home” of the EU, it probably won’t be taken seriously enough to be able to push it through the other bodies, Paganini said. He hopes to be proved wrong, he said.
Belgium’s political situation doesn’t help, but the country’s civil service will remain in place to carry out Presidency business, a U.K. government source said. Not having a government at the top level could cause some lack of momentum, but Belgium is closer to the EC, whose agenda is driving Europe now, than other countries, he said. The situation probably won’t be as dramatic as it would if the U.K. or another larger EU nation was without a permanent government, he said. Britain is “fairly hopeful” Belgium will be a good presidency that advances Europe’s agenda, he said.
A telecom lawyer said the country will struggle over one EC priority, the 800 MHz spectrum band freed up by transition to digital TV. Responsibility for broadcasting issues is completely devolved to Belgium’s regions, which squabble over frequencies, the attorney said. It will be difficult for Belgium to deal with the digital dividend issue during its presidency, he said. Another concern is the government’s tendency to meddle with the independence of its telecom regulator, the lawyer said. Belgium appears to be on the verge of losing a court case involving intervention by the national legislature in universal service matters under the control of the national regulator, he said.
McNamee, however, said he saw a hopeful sign in the Belgian government’s approach to ISP liability for online copyright infringement, a key issue in Europe. Outgoing Enterprise and Simplification Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne intervened to order a website put back online after an allegation of copyright infringement, he said. “A minister who has seen firsthand the dangers of unbalanced systems of take-downs of allegedly illegal websites would be a very welcome rarity” in the EU Council presidency, he said. The dangers of any measure on ISP liability that pops up during Belgium’s presidency could be measured against that example, he said.
It appears the Belgians merely intend to follow the EC digital agenda, said telecom consultant Innocenzo Genna, a European Internet Services Providers Association council officer. The presidency’s references to ACTA and intellectual property rights are vague and there’s no mention of the need to develop a market for online legal content, “and that’s a pity,” he said. European Telecommunications Network Operators’ Association Director Michael Bartholomew welcomed the emphasis on telecom and, in particular, high-speed broadband networks and spectrum.