"several people, including a telecom regulator, a diplomat from one large E.U. member state, ECTA, and even one person from within the Commission itself have said that the Commission's draft recommendation may be biased in favor of incumbents. Only ECTA spoke out publicly. The other sources insisted on remaining anonymous. There have been numerous meetings this week about the draft recommendation, and it does appear that political pressure has been brought to bear in favor of incumbent operators," said one person close to the discussions.
According to the diplomat, the political pressure stems from the German government, which is fighting to secure a better deal for Deutsche Telekom. "Germany is pressuring Barroso to intervene in favor of the incumbents. It is also lobbying other countries to do likewise," he said. Barroso has publicly stated his interest in leading the next Commission once the current team's mandate expires in the fall. To ensure that he gets the job again, he needs the endorsement of the heads of national governments, and Germany's in particular because Germany is the biggest E.U. member state."
No comments:
Post a Comment