The European Union’s €90bn market for postal services will from 2009 be opened to full, cross-border competition, according to a European Commission proposal unveiled in Brussels on Wednesday.
At present, one of the biggest and most lucrative segments of the post market - the market for mail weighing less than 50 grammes - is still reserved for national monopolists such as Deutsche Post in Germany and La Poste in France. This last “reserved area” would be abolished under the Commission plan - a prospect that has caused deep unhappiness in several member states, including France.
