Strasbourg (France), Sep 14 (EFE).Strasbourg (France), Sep 14 (EFE). — Free cellphone data roaming plans for traveling European Union citizens should be extended to include exchange students for the duration of their course, the President of the European Commission said on Wednesday.
JeanClaude Juncker told members of the European Parliament during the annual State of the Union address that his plan to abolish roaming surcharges should include people spending considerable time abroad, such as foreign workers and students in the “Erasmus” European student exchange program.
The new proposals would not only apply to those who travel for two days for business purposes _ or two weeks for holiday _ but include “crossborder workers and the millions of Erasmus students who study abroad for one or two semesters,” he said.
To this end, Juncker reiterated his request to withdraw the previous proposal that free roaming would be accessible for a nonconsecutive 90day period, which was criticized by consumer groups.
The EC was already working on a “new and better” proposal, to be unveiled in the coming week, that aims to allow cellphone users to consume data when roaming as if they were “at home.”
Juncker added that the EC must assume the responsibility of being a political commission rather than a technocratic body, although it should correct technocratic mistakes “immediately” when they occur.
The free data roaming plan was scheduled to come into effect by June 2017.
