Although it is not yet passed, the proposal will be presented next month to the European Council for passage "as early as possible." As the Commission itself wrote: "Key changes for citizens will include the end of mobile roaming premiums and a guarantee of "net neutrality.""

The benefits to EU citizens is obvious. For non-Europeans, it means they will be able to buy a SIM card in any EU country and use it in any other EU countries without having to pay roaming charges. Companies offering the cards can decide for themselves how much they will charge for them (to buy) and will probably offer different packages. Presumably, since SIM card could be bought anywhere in the EU, the competition should keep general prices reasonable.

The EU announcement

Awesome news!

Incredible ! Cannot wait for that.

On a similar note, I have long wondered why there can't be a single EU-wide postage stamp. It wouldn't have to be a threat to philately -- just a common stamp that could be used for posting a first-class letter of x grams from anywhere within Europe. Should be simple, no?

cheers,

Henry

Just like there should be a single financial system (why do I need a fiscal number in each country?), just like there should be a single visa system (why does each country need to maintain an embassy abroad?), etc.

The union might get to this eventually. The US took a few decades to become a federation. The EU is going that route, but there is quite a bit of opposition, as states are afraid to lose their sovereignty.

Another thing - when you're talking about a single postal system, don't forget that some post offices are privatized, others are government-owned companies, so there's a lot of difficulty there as well.

Hang about ... who said anything about 'a single postal system'??? I'm talking about a single stamp -- sold everywhere in Europe and valid for postage in the countries in which it's sold. Don't blow it out of all proportion, with your 'financial system', 'fiscal number' and 'visa system' nonsense.

cheers,

Henry

I'm not quite so sure that the EU will follow the American example. As things stand already, the agreements reached by the EU are not laws in the American sense, but rather "frameworks" that states can adopt to their own systems.

And generally, while, someone from California and someone from New York both consider themselves American, people here may say they are European, but their nationality is their country, not Europe. I do not see that changing at all.

Not really, as every country has its own postal operator and postage stamps have different prices in each country. If you could use Greek stamps in the Netherlands, and Greek stamps would be cheaper than Dutch stamps, there would soon be someone selling Greek stamps in the Netherlands and the Dutch post would never sell stamps again.

The financial system is much easier and more customer-friendly already than it was a few years ago (IBAN bank account numbers, no more charges for � payments within the eurozone)

There is a single visa system within the Schengen zone which covers a large part of Europe.

Countries do cooperate a lot in the foreign services - EU Country X's Embassy will often take care of EU country Y's interest in country Z where country Y doesn't have it's own Embassy. Also, some countries share the building in which the various EU Embassies are housed.

OK, limit it to the Eurozone countries. Same price everywhere. Still better than the present and the Dutch are saved.

cheers,

Henry

Greece and NL are both Eurozone.

Erm ... yes. (Sorry, what's your point?)

The point is that your post #10 suggested that they were not both Eurozone countries. (reacting to Sjoerd's point about differential pricing)

Perhaps accusing someone of spouting "nonsense" is considered polite where you are based. In any case, allocating the revenue and costs of a single stamp between the dozens of government-owned and private postal operators in Europe who all have differing costs and volumes would be incredibly difficult.

'Differential pricing' within the Eurozone is a non-issue: you simply set a standard price.

My initial 'flyer' was to have a common stamp throughout Europe. Sjoerd pointed out that postal rates vary between countries. His argument would have been stronger had he chosen as examples two countries that are not both in the Eurozone. It would obviously be rather problematic to introduce a unified stamp when not only does the rate vary but so too does the currency in which it is sold. So I limited the proposal to countries employing a common currency, whereby the difficulty of foreign exchange would be eliminated. You then sell the stamp for the same price in Greece, Holland and even here in Finland, where we have the highest postal rates in the Eurozone. No problem.

All countries can of course continue to print as many of their own little pretties as they please, for those who like to paste them into albums or whatever. It's simply that having a stamp that you could stick on a letter when you're out of your own country without having to go somewhere and buy one would be equal to the advantage of having a banknote that you can pull out of your wallet and spend, without first having to go to a bank or bureau de change.

I proposed that countries could agree to print a stamp that says, for example, "EU. First Class. 1�" and your man came back talking about 'why do I need a fiscal number in each country?' Sorry, but in the simple context I was raising, that is nonsense. Regarding 'allocating the revenue and costs of a single stamp between the dozens of government-owned and private postal operators in Europe who all have differing costs and volumes' ... well, that is obviously being done now, successfully, isn't it? Mail moves around the world.