"The European Commission as Corporate Actor? European Telecommunications Policy after Maastricht"

Telecommunications in the past constituted a tightly regulated, nationally oriented policy field. In economic terms it was characterized by closed national markets and few transnational interactions. Telecommunications are now developing towards an international market with minimal national regulation. Among the factors that contributed significantly to these changes, bold actions by the European Commission have to be mentioned. The actions consisted of recommendations, directives, programs and other activities, such as supportive statements by the European Court of Justice. Contrary to what is very often hinted at, however, it is not to be expected that on the European level a central state authority will develop, that resembles the old national regulatory and institutional structures. Rather a complex system of multi level governance is coming into existence which features not very clearly specified competencies and a mixture of private, para-public and public institutions with shared responsibilities. The present paper will both try to analyze recent trends in European telecommunications policy as well as assess the role of the European Commission. With respect to the latter it will be argued that the conceptualization of the Commission as a corporate actor signifies an important step forward in analyzing the Commission, but it is still a concept that needs further clarification