Finally we are there. June 15, 2017 will see the abolishment of roaming charges. After a marathon of negotiations, the European Parliament in Strasbourg passed new legislation – the Single Market Telecommunications Regulation. This includes, as a fundamental measure, the end of roaming charges for voice, SMS and data.

Extra costs for using mobile phones in another EU country are doomed. On June 15, 2017, these will be just another chapter in the history of this fast-evolving technology. As part of the main negotiating team, I couldn’t be happier with the final result of the Parliament’s vote on Tuesday.

This is the end of roaming charges and the beginning of EU-wide rules on net neutrality while strengthening consumer rights in the Telecom Single Market (TSM).

In order to ensure a smooth transition to the abolition of roaming surcharges, a transitional period will begin on April 30, 2016. From this date, roaming surcharges will be greatly reduced – in many cases to a quarter of the price people pay today.

If the consumers are guaranteed certain services, remedies must be in place for their protection

The TSM introduces also the fair-use clause. This is meant to avoid, on a case-by-case basis, any abuse and excessive utilisation of the abolition of roaming by the user. The user will then be able to consume volumes of regulated roaming services at the applicable domestic retail prices that are consistent with national tariff plans.

The new telecoms regulation will also guarantee an open and non-discriminatory internet based on the principle of net neutrality.

This was an uphill battle. The Socialist and Democrats (S&D) Group in the European Parliament was the first to call for the end of roaming charges within the EU. This was four years ago.

At that time, there was a lot of opposition from national governments, from the EPP Group in Parliament and even from the European Commission.

The negotiations were tough. The S&D Group was the driving force for change. It is more than clear that it was our perseverance, the S&D negotiators’, that changed the situation.

As the spokeswoman for the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee (Imco), together with the other two colleagues from the S&D, we were the clear leading force behind this ambitious result. We have managed to persuade the other political groups to keep fighting for an ambitious agreement to abolish roaming charges. At the same time, we had to be always constructive and realistic. This is a compromise between the S&D call to end charges by 2016 and the member states’ insistence on delaying charges till 2018.

Our target was to get an agreement on a definite end date for roaming costs. I am happy that we finally have it.

Persuading the stakeholders was not an easy task. Once we managed to do that we strongly and firmly opposed the attempt to introduce price caps. We succeeded in doing this, too.

We also opposed the then Council proposal to maintain roaming charges for a few more years, during which time our citizens would continue paying excessive bills whenever they travel abroad.

We have achieved a balanced regulation that will benefit the consumer, the end user. The regulation will dismantle artificial national borders and will also allow for thriving telecoms and online industries.

For me it was absolutely vital that consumers are equipped with the relevant tools to ensure their rights are indeed properly safeguarded.

During the negotiations, my ultimate goal was to ensure that consumers have sufficient information and transparency, together with the necessary remedies to protect their rights. If the consumers are guaranteed certain services, remedies must be in place for their protection.

I am also satisfied with the result on net neutrality because, for the first time, we will introduce pan-European rules to ensure a strong open internet with non-discriminatory traffic and transparency.

Until now, there have been no binding pan-European rules on net neutrality. For the first time, the net neutrality principle will be enshrined into 28 national legal systems. It will oblige internet service providers across Europe to treat all internet traffic equally, without discrimination, restriction or interference, irrespective of the sender and receiver, the content, the applications or services used.

From the consumers’ perspective the agreement is indeed a major step forward. The Imco managed to include a number of important provisions, such as strengthening contractual information and transparency, monitoring consumption and traffic management measures, providing comparison tools as well as providing access to remedies and complaint procedures.

Last Tuesday, we won a battle for our citizens. But this is not the end of it all. I will continue working to ensure this regulation is correctly implemented so that consumers and businesses will tangibly feel the benefits of this legislation.

After all, the use of the internet has become an indipensable part of our lifestyle, and unfair and discriminatory practice can no longer be allowed to penalise end users.

Finally, no more shocks resulting at the receipt of the telephone or internet bill after that lovely holiday in a EU destination.

Marlene Mizzi is a Labour member of the European Parliament