However, the threat in the long term to employment through neglecting the needs of this sector is significant. The erosion of postal volumes through fax and e-mail can be lessened by more competitive postal services. The drive to encourage electronic commerce, offering substantial opportunities to postal operators, will fail if postal services do not all modernise properly. The effect on employment is very important to all of us. I therefore intend to monitor the issue of employment in the postal sector on a constant basis.
Universal service is also a big competitive advantage for operators.
In this context in Sweden the letter mail service of Sweden Post has remained profitable despite full competition. But our proposals do not go as far as Sweden due to the different geographies and spreads of population in different Member States. Finally, additional means of guaranteeing universal service remain available alongside a continuing reserved area. In addition to the postal monopoly of 50 percent of the revenues Member States may attach conditions to licences they grant to private operators. They could very well impose some universal service obligations on private operators as well.