Brussels – Sending a letter from Italy to Sweden does not cost the same as sending one in the opposite direction. Strange, yet true. Despite a process of integration spanning more than half a century, obstacles remain, which the European Commission intends to tackle in early 2027 with a proposal aimed at reorganising the postal services market. It is the German MEP Markus Buchheit (AfD/ESN) who has highlighted these peculiar “asymmetries” within the EU, denouncing in a parliamentary question that sending a standard letter from Belgium to Germany via post currently costs 3.07 euros, “almost 2.5 times more than the 1.25 euros charged by Deutsche Post for the return journey.”
The situation is well known and, to a certain extent, unsurprising. Postal Services Directive, explains the Executive Vice-President responsible for Industry, Stéphane Séjourné, “requires Member States to ensure a permanent universal service at all points of the territory at affordable prices,” but under the same legislation “there is no legal obligation for uniform tariffs between domestic and cross-border universal service letters.” In essence, different costs for the same product “may have their reasons in different volumes, agreements and cost-structures.”
These asymmetries therefore exist because, when Member States negotiated the content of the Postal Services Directive in 1997, they decided to proceed in this way – that is, to take account of national differences. Faced with a changed landscape that requires the removal of barriers and fragmentation within the single market to achieve new and greater competitiveness, as highlighted by the Letta and Draghi reports, the European Commission intends to take action to try to overcome the national “paranoia” of thirty years ago.
The EU Commission’s work programme includes “an EU Delivery Act to modernise the postal regulatory framework and in particular the universal service,” Séjourné said. He noted that its objective “is to ensure that citizens and businesses can receive deliveries across the EU at affordable prices, whilst promoting fair competition in the delivery markets and enhancing consumer protection.” However, it is worth noting that the Commission Vice-President’s remarks make no explicit mention of harmonising postal rates. A reduction in disparities is therefore possible. To understand what will be proposed, we will have to wait a few more months: “The proposal is scheduled for the first quarter of 2027,” Séjourné noted.
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
