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Royal Mail

I want to make some progress. By the end of next year, there will be liberalised postal markets in most of the 15 European Union member states, and two years later throughout the whole EU. Royal Mail already has a presence in Europe through its purchase several years ago of the GLS parcels business. In future, there is likely to be further consolidation in the European postal market. Earlier this month, the Swedish and Danish authorities announced that they had signed the final shareholders' agreement to merge their national postal companies. A joint venture can make Royal Mail a bigger player in Europe and able to play a leading role as the market develops. We should not turn our back on those opportunities because ideology stops us from considering a partnership even on a minority basis.