Commission hopes for communications regulations agreement from Council
Europe's transport and telecommunications ministers meet in Luxembourg on 4 and 5 April to discuss a regulatory framework for electronic communications and further development of the Galileo project. In 2000 the Commission presented a proposal for a future regulatory framework for electronic communications consisting of five directives and one decision, which would replace the existing 20 or so directives and decisions for this sector. It is hoped that the Council for Transport and Telecommunications will reach a political agreement on three of these directives. Ministers will also discuss the continued development of the 3G network (third generation mobile phone Internet services) in the light of the current decline in the telecommunications branch. Also on the agenda for discussion is the introduction of a new Internet top-level domain, '.EU'. Transport ministers will tackle the issue of how to organise further work on the development of the European satellite navigation system, Galileo. The focus will be on defining how the business sector can participate in financing the project. Ministers are also expected to adopt a resolution on a sustainable transport system, which deals with how environmental and sustainability issues are to be integrated in transport policy.