Proposition 53K3402

Projet de loi modifiant la loi du 21 mars 1991 portant réforme de certaines entreprises publiques économiques.

General information ¶

Submitted by

PS | SP the Di Rupo government

Submission date

Feb. 26, 2014

Official page

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Status

Adopted

Requirement

Simple

Subjects

incompatibility public sector postal service public service board of directors

Voting ¶

Voted to adopt

Groen CD&V Vooruit Ecolo LE PS | SP Open Vld MR

Voted to reject

∉ N-VA LDD

Abstained from voting

VB

Party dissidents ¶

• Peter Luykx (CD&V) voted to reject.

Contact form ¶

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Discussion ¶

March 27, 2014 | Plenary session (Chamber of representatives)

Full source

Ms. Valérie De Bue and Mr. Luc Gustin, rapporteurs, refer to the written report.

Mr. Speaker, colleagues, Mr. Minister, as always when we go to the discussion of a bill or bill, it is important to ask ourselves what the problem really is and what we really need to solve. We must also ask the question of what the solution we propose for this purpose is.

What was the problem of bpost? There were some pruts to arrange. It is essentially a technical issue. Everything needs to be arranged so that we are consistent with and in order for Europe and we will no longer be condemned in the future. This is essentially the subject of the present draft law.

I then read the design and note that there are apparently a number of other problems. These are things that may not be a problem for most members here and ⁇ not for the ordinary man, who has determined that bpost has become a successful company over the past few years that finally does what the private user of the postal service expects, in particular a postal service that usually arrives on time and postal points that are open from six o’clock in the morning to seven o’clock in the evening.

This means that anyone who works today can pick up his registered letter at six o’clock. He can write his answer during the afternoon break, and in the evening, when he comes home with a train that was too late, at seven o’clock he can still enter his newspaper store to send the lawfully registered shipment there.

Mr. Minister, the service at bpost has made great progress. So Bpost does what it should do.

What happens when we read the bill? Here and there, some things appear to be hidden in the text, with which the true purpose of you as a minister and of your party behind you is gradually becoming clear. After all, what is it about? The parties concerned want to regain control of the state-owned company bpost.

When I was young, I was a fan of the movie series Back to the Future. Here on the left side are some fans of Back to the past. They also take effective steps in that direction.

In the committee, we made comments on the terminology. When we talk about the Belgian post, we talk about bpost. However, the bill speaks about “The Post”, the “postcards” and the “post services”. According to the minister, this is all in order, while I think there is something else behind it. I will be wrong.

A social task is added to the task description of the public service. I asked what that social task is. The postman comes home. That is right. That is reasonable, but it is not stated in any way how bpost will have to respond to it. Should post officers then be trained and trained to provide social services? They are almost expected to be half psychologists. Nor is it said whether they will be remunerated for it and whether that task will be evaluated or followed, but it is in it, it is in it. There will be a public service.

There are still some things like that. The culture of political appointments is confirmed, Mr. Geerts.

The [...]

Mr Geerts, I am not talking about the social policy of bpost. It is about adding social services to the services of bpost in the bill. People are not trained for this today and therefore will need to get a training for this. In this case, they are also best compensated.

There is also a small issue related to privacy. In the past, secrecy was a specific task of the public service. It was important enough to be mentioned specifically. Today it no longer needs to. The Minister replied that it is in the Constitution. If that task was important enough to mention in the past, and if one needs three pages today for the entire task description, then I think it can still be accompanied. I wonder why they are not able to do so.

The strike on the firepile, colleagues, are the requirements that are placed on bpost. The Minister has also not been able to specify on what they are based. They are quite arbitrary. There should be 1,300 postcards, of which 650 offices. According to this law, there must be a post office in every municipality. It is important to point out the difference between a post office, where you can get a service outside of the hours, in addition to, for example, the sale of newspapers or whatever, and the post offices themselves, which are open according to their permitted hours. Usually, however, the postal offices are less suitable for people who still earn their sandwiches during the day, contribute and enable those services to be provided.

All municipalities should have an office. That is a wish and a way to get a grip on the story again. There is much more to say about who works in those offices. Thus one comes closer to the goal: not the provision of services by bpost, but the government employment, which one has under control. That is the goal. There are 650 offices, one in each municipality. When will this law come into force? It is important to note that there is not a post office in every municipality.

That is, bpost will be illegally engaged as soon as the bill is approved, because the law will not be fulfilled. I find it strange, but I do not get an answer. It remains so.

Colleagues, again proves what I said in the beginning, namely that it would be better to limit yourself to detecting the problem and offering a solution to it, than to try to introduce a number of more ideologically oriented goals. Bpost was a public company that became good, is and, hopefully, will be run. However, it was apparently necessary for the CEO to work out of it. We are against the introduction of such things in such a company.

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Minister, since Vlaams Belang has abstained from the committee, it is good that we justify in the plenary session why we do not participate in the story of the reform of the basic public service contracts entrusted to bpost.

There are some essential elements. We find it logical that the contractor, who engages in public service contracts, must comply with certain criteria. I refer, for example, to the maintenance of a proximity network, the provision of financial postal services, the payment at home of pensions to seniors and allowances to persons with disabilities, and a number of other aspects.

When it comes to realisation, I am surprised. In fact, in recent years Mr Thijs has not only been involved in lobbying for his salary, if necessary with a glass of champagne in your cabinet, we have also had to find that many postal offices in our country have been closed, that many postal buses have disappeared, that the service of bpost has been reduced over and over again and that the social role of the postal agent has been severely pressured.

In the past, the retirees knew a postman who called, who took the time for a registered writing, fulfilled a social role, paid out the pensions at home, and got another bottle on top. That is all past time.

I understand that there is a price bar on the liberalization of the postal market, but I still have the impression that we have moved too much to the other side. Post offices were replaced by post offices and the service was reduced to a minimum.

We cannot even speak of a basic service. After all, those post points come in some kind of shop complex, where it is often a coming and going of users. It is also not always clear for what one can end up in the post points.

If we then see what is described here today as basic contracts, as public service contracts, in practice we would almost have to turn the clock back. If we see what the Post has achieved in the past years and on which it has saved everything, there must be additional assignments.

In many municipalities there is no post office anymore. My party in the past has always held a plea for a basic service of De Post.

I am surprised that the N-VA shoots at the unrealistic requirement to have at least one post office per municipality, while numerous N-VA MPs have in the past pulled on the cart. At the local level, motions were approved for the preservation of their post office and today one would question that principle. We have always defended the principle of the proximity of the Post and its social role.

Your bill goes in the right direction, but comes too late and unfortunately does not go far enough, hence our abstinence.

I have responded to all the comments in the committee. For me, the social aspect is very important, Mr. Vandeput.

But we do not have the same definition of the word. You simply allow me to tell you that you make me think of this person who is on the edge of the abyss, the cliff, and who says, “I am going to reform. I will take a big step forward.”

Mr. Vandeput, are you the person on the edge of the abyss?

I would like to thank the Minister for his correct response. I just want to point out to the Minister that we also consider the social aspect very important. But the big difference between us is that we are talking about being social, not about being a socialist.