Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-09-06-Speech-3-185"
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"en.20000906.7.3-185"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, we welcome the fact that the Commission and the US Department of Justice have blocked the proposed MCI Worldcom – Sprint merger, and were also delighted to hear that the US Government is not inclined to approve the AOL – Time Warner deal. The Internet must continue to be a means of communication for all. We must therefore prevent the telecommunications and media giants from being able to occupy a dominant position. Competition law is an effective tool to this end.
However, mergers also have an impact on employment and social cohesion. Telecommunications and media are not crisis-ridden industries; they are an expanding sector. Objectively, this makes it easier to take account of sociopolitical and employment policy aspects in merger decisions.
Since the mid-nineties, the Federal Communication Commission in the USA has, in the case of several merger decisions, secured commitments from the companies concerned to increase the number of employees, improve quality of service, and do more to look after the public interest. Therefore we fail to comprehend why, in the welfare state of Europe, competition law should rule the day. We are calling for the EU to introduce binding social clauses into the mergers approvals process.
Apart from the competition law test, we need additional criteria for the purposes of merger decisions, for example: firstly, the companies should give a binding commitment to preserving or raising the level of employment. Secondly, they should improve the quality of service for large sections of their customer base. Thirdly, they must implement to the letter, the mechanics of the European social dialogue and the provisions of the directive on informing and consulting workers, as they make the transition to the new merged company. Fourthly, the merger must bring added benefits when it comes to furthering the public interest. This relates to such matters as the need to safeguard a comprehensive and modern universal service, and requirements in terms of data and consumer protection. That is the only way to guarantee that competition policy will also strengthen the European social model in the new economy."@en1
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