Electronic communications
EP vote would threaten principle of net neutrality
The European Parliament's industry committee today voted on proposed EU legislation on electronic communications (the Single Digital Market package). The Greens/EFA group expressed concern about the vote, notably its implications for net neutrality. After the vote, Greens/EFA e-communications spokesperson Amelia Andersdotter stated:
“Today's vote would seriously threaten the principle of net neutrality in the EU. A centre-right majority has regrettably supported proposals by the Commission, which would essentially give large providers the all clear for discriminating against users as they see fit. This flies in the face of previous commitments by the Commission to guarantee net neutrality and ensure a level playing field for all online services and users. We will urge MEPs to vote differently when Parliament as a whole votes on the text in plenary (1).
"Today's vote has produced an incoherent patchwork and it is hard to see how EU governments in Council could take this chaotic outcome as a serious basis for negotiations. This could delay some of the clearly positive provisions of the draft legislation, for example on eliminating data roaming charges. We will now push for this to be rectified when MEPs vote as a whole in plenary."
(1) The European Parliament plenary vote is foreseen for its April session (14-17 April).
