Talks on privatising Deutsche Bundespost Telekom have entered a critical phase, with a key decision due next month, Germany’s postal and telecommunications minister Wolfgang Bosch told Reuter at Hannover on Friday: In a few weeks we will know whether or not there will be a change to the constitution, he said, noting that decision will not only affect privatisation of Telekom but also Bonn’s position at the upcoming talks with the European Commission – an agreement on privatisation would pave the way for Bonn to approve the Community plan to open domestic and international telephone calls to competition; the current strategy to get agreement from Germany’s opposition socialists is to win over the postal union, which so far rejects turning Telekom into a joint stock company for fear of massive job losses.
