EU postal monopolies questioned

Another European Commission official has warned Europe's post offices that they may have trouble justifying their state monopolies if they continue expanding into commercial activities.

"I wouldn't be astonished if the Commission would be basically obliged to start a re-examination of their monopoly," Mr Hubert Ungerer, head of the postal unit in the Commission's competition division, said yesterday.

Ungerer said restructuring raised some questions under EU competition law.