The CERP working group devoted to European coordination for matters concerning the Universal Postal Union (UPU) met last 6-7 September in Paris. It was the first meeting chaired by France and was attended by 14 countries, including Portugal, as well as the European Commission as observer. On the second day WG UPU met jointly with the counterpart group from the Association of European Public Postal Operators (PostEurop). The main issues discussed were UPU reform and financial matters.
Regarding UPU reform, the results and discussions of the working team (WT) of the ad hoc group on UPU Reform were presented and debated. It had been created at the June session of the ad hoc grup and met in August. The WT is composed of two countries per region, with Germany and France participating for Europe, and is mandated to debate and try to put forward consensus proposals on aspects of UPU reform identified by the ad hoc group as still being open.
The issue which generated the most discussion at the meeting was composition of the Postal Operations Council (POC), the body that deals with matters of operational nature. At stake are mainly the influence levels of each region and the balance of forces between various interests, particularly operators from developed countries (with more resources and know-how, operating in competitive markets) versus operators from developing countries (less technologically developed and less competitive, operating in essentially monopolist/state-run markets).
Europe currently participates extensively in the POC, reflecting the member states’ degree of development and not just a balanced geographic distribution. Some countries from other regions, above all Africa, want to change the POC’s composition rules to better reflect the geographic distribution of the UPU’s members (Africa is the region with the most member countries (54) but only holds 7 of the 41 seats on the POC; Western Europe has 28 countries and 12 seats). Europe mainly aims to maintain its level of influence.
Various scenarios for future distribution of the POC’s members by region are thus under discussion; they are meant to reflect better geographic distribution without, however, causing disruption vis-à-vis the current composition.
The following stand out as main results of the discussions at both the WG UPU meeting and the joint meeting:
- defence of the interest of the ensemble of CEPT countries (UPU groups 2 and 3) and maximisation of Europe’s influence;
- not granting compromises in so far as some countries from other regions do not really want to arrive at a compromise but rather aim to always obtain more from the negotiations;
- defence for the POC composition for scenario III (reflecting a proposal submitted to the 2016 Congress by a number of countries, mainly European;
- presentation of alternative scenarios based on criteria such as financial contribution to the UPU, postal development level or mail volumes per country (as strategy to combat other scenarios less advantageous for Europe).
With respect to financial questions, the situation of the UPU pension fund generated the most debate and concern; the matter has been under discussion since the 2016 congress. The fund has a deficit and requires not just short-term resolution of the amounts in debt but also redefinition of its model of operation and financing so that long-term problems can be resolved. This issue is being studied in a task force of the UPU Council of Administration (CA), though without major progress.
The countries most involved in that task force shared information about discussions and possible scenarios to develop to find a solution to propose to the CA and to the 2018 extraordinary congress. The UPU director general (DG) insists on solutions that involve extraordinary payments by member states, which will be very difficult to achieve owing to the budget problems facing most countries nowadays and especially the developed countries that pay the biggest slice of the UPU budget. Some countries hold that the DG should evaluate other situations and factors not yet discussed, necessarily impacting the UPU’s employees, and present alternative scenarios for the member states to decide on. CERP submitted a document to the task force specifically making proposals about additional items that should be analysed.
The WG UPU meeting also included a (remote) presentation by the UPU International Bureau on the CA session to be held in October, referring to the main issues to deal with and some logistical aspects.
The next WG UPU meeting will be held on 11 October in Copenhagen, where the main aim will be to prepare for the next CA session.
