MEP Muscat to report on roaming charges

Labour MEP Joseph Muscat has been appointed rapporteur for Roaming Charges Regulation within the Committee for the Internal Market and Consumer Protection.

A proposal put forward by the Commission aims at axing mobile phone roaming costs by more than half.

Mr Muscat will be responsible for drafting the report with the main emphasis being on consumer protection and the internal market.

The debate on this proposed regulation is expected to be one of the main ones within the European Union in the coming months.

"This is a big responsibility since we will be working to see that this project benefits millions of consumers around Europe, including Malta. I am convinced that we will work with an open mind in order to bring about sustainable improvements and better prices for consumers," said Mr Muscat.

His aim, he said, will be that of building on the Commission's proposal in order to bring about a decrease of more than 50 per cent in the cost of mobile telephony roaming.

The discussion the European Parliament on this report will start in the coming days.