The 14th meeting of the CERP working group on European coordination for Universal Postal Union issues (WG UPU) was held last 15-16 June at the premises of the European Communications Office (ECO) in Copenhagen, chaired by Norway. On the morning of the second day WG UPU met jointly with the equivalent group from PostEurop, the association of European postal operators.
This meeting, like the previous one, dealt exclusively with preparations for the 26th UPU congress, to be held from this coming 20 September to 7 October in Istanbul, Turkey.
As manager of the CEPT ‘family’ websites, the ECO presented and demonstrated some tools provided to the various CEPT committees, which in the specific case of WG UPU can be used to support European coordination for the congress, as well as the experience of other groups/committees in using them.
The most relevant proposals among those already posted on the UPU website were presented, a process that is being coordinated very constructively by the WG-UPU vice-chair (Spain).
UPU reform was once again one of the topics meriting a great deal of attention and discussion, also at the joint meeting with PostEurop.
A German proposal (already submitted to the UPU and published) was presented. It aims to be an alternative to the proposal approved at the February Council of Administration (CA) and not a ‘counter-proposal’. The existence of an alternative proposal to the CA’s one was generally considered positive, as the latter has raised much concern in various European countries (including Portugal). Some countries nevertheless doubt it can garner support from other countries, namely outside Europe, which would be indispensable for it to be seen as an alternative to the CA’s proposal, because it does not seem to introduce sufficient change vis-à-vis the current situation.
Also presented and discussed was a draft alternative proposal developed within PostEurop, based on the German proposal though trying to answer some concerns expressed by other countries and become a credible alternative to the CA’s proposal. Given the short notice of this draft proposal’s disclosure to WG UPU, the countries did not have conditions to manifest a respective consolidated position. Nevertheless, after preliminary analysis and some explanations from PostEurop in reply to questions from WG UPU members, the group considered that the draft could be a suitable departure point for an eventual proposal alternative to the CA’s one, to be coordinated at European level and with other countries that have manifested similar concerns. The group will try to electronically coordinate a common proposal, which in accordance with the rules for presenting proposals to the congress must be submitted to the UPU by 20 July 2016.
The next meeting will be held this coming 29-30 August in Budapest and will be the last before the UPU congress.
