The EU's BEREC institution would be perfect in Riga.

When Latvia restored its independence in 1991, I made a point of telling diplomats that Latvia wasn’t returning to Europe, but that Europe was returning to Latvia. In 2004 Latvia joined the EU, but there is one aspect in which the EU has not yet joined Latvia. It’s high time it did.

It all has to do with something called BEREC. That stands for the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications. If you enjoy acronyms, then I can entertain you by explaining that BEREC was created by the EU to replace ERG through which NRA’s “exchange expertise.”

This may be all eminently clear to the chosen few, but for the rest of us it means that the 27 National Regulatory Authorities (NRA) of the EU which are responsible for the functioning of Europe’s telecom market will no longer operate through the European Regulators Group (ERG) but through a newly established body called BEREC. According to the EU, its secretariat will be fully staffed and operational by the end of 2011. The question is, where?

Since the EU enlargement of 2004, the European Council has endorsed the idea that new EU institutions should be set up in new member states. This makes sense for all kinds of reasons. It would reduce of the concentration of EU administration in Brussels, promote deeper integration of member states, bring EU decision-making closer to its citizens and build confidence throughout the expanded, 27-member EU.

Latvia’s Minister of Transport and Communication Kaspars Gerhards has formally requested that the new BEREC office be established in Riga. Latvia is one of the few EU member states that doesn’t yet have an EU agency, and Riga offers everything that BEREC needs to do its work efficiently and cost-effectively. It’s easy to reach, has great office space and has some excellent restaurants, hotels and conference facilities. Plus, it’s located just minutes from the longest beach and some of the nicest forests in Europe. Quality of work is directly related to quality of life, and Riga makes both possible.

In fact, no other EU city other than Riga has requested the new BEREC facility. Brussels, which may feel overwhelmed by its growing EU bureaucracy, is conspicuous in its lack of interest in housing another EU acronym.

When BEREC was established in Jan. 2010, some expressed the view that its secretariat should be located in Brussels. One argument was that its proximity would facilitate BEREC’s communication with other EU institutions. But there are encouraging signs that the experts who decide on these things aren’t buying it. After all, one of the advantages of modern telecommunications is that it enables instant communication with any place on the globe. It has given us such things as “teleconferencing” and “telecollaboration”, which promote things like “telepresence” and “videotelephony”, all of which means that in this high tech globalized world of electronic communications, “proximity” is possible anywhere. Granted, you can’t shake hands through optic cables, although I’m sure someone will figure out a way to do that.

Today, more than 20 EU institutions are located in cities other than Brussels, and they include not only such metropolises as London, Paris and Madrid, but also Dublin, Parma, Warsaw and Stockholm. The European Chemical Agency is in Helsinki, Finland, the European Police College is in Bramshill, UK, and the European Institute for Gender Equality is in neighboring Vilnius, Lithuania.

In an integrated, interconnected EU, geographic proximity is no longer an argument for anything. Just ask the European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA), which was established 1,500 km from Brussels in the Greek city of Heraklion, located on the beautiful Mediterranean island of Crete.

BEREC Chair John Doherty has said that “The establishment of BEREC is a significant development in the evolution of the electronic communications sector throughout the EU.”

If that evolution continues to advance by prodigiously digital leaps and bounds, the folks in Brussels should have no problem webconferencing with Riga while they hold a teleseminar in Heraklion and Skype with their friends and relatives in Tallinn.

Ojārs Kalniņš is the director of the Latvian Institute. The Latvian Institute (Latvijas institūts) was established by the Latvian government to provide a wide range of information about Latvia, its society, culture and history. For more information visit www.li.lv.

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