EU's Reding, telecoms watchdogs clash over reform

By Huw Jones

BRUSSELS, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Telecoms watchdogs in European Union member states on Wednesday proposed beefing up coordination in a bid to quash plans by the bloc's executive for a new pan-EU regulatory authority.

EU Telecoms Commissioner Viviane Reding has proposed a new authority to advise it on enforcing EU telecoms rules to boost competition and cut prices for consumers.

National watchdogs -- backed by big EU states like Britain and France -- say a new authority is unnecessary and instead want to beef up the existing European Regulators Group (ERG), an informal body critics say lacks teeth.

British telecoms regulator Ofcom said Reding's proposal would upset the balance of power between states and Brussels by giving the Commission new powers to impose regulatory remedies on an EU state.

"A Commission veto implies that a single right answer can be simply rolled out top down," Ofcom CEO Ed Richards told a hearing on Reding's telecoms package in the European Parliament.

A new agency under the supervision of EU states and the Commission would be not totally independent, Richards said.

"I warmly welcome that the ERG have unanimously agreed to help to develop proposals for a significant enhancement of the existing ERG," Richards said.

An "ERG plus plus" would include majority decision making, Richards said.