EC tells 18 member states to put EU gas

EC tells 18 member states to put EU gas, power rules into law

London (Platts)--13Oct2004


The European Commission has sent formal notices to 18 of the 25 members of the
European Union, asking them to put the EU directives on gas and power market
opening into national law. 

The directives, the EC says, will determine the
shape of the EU energy market for years to come and will serve as a basis for
the development of energy partnerships with the EU's neighbors. The directives
which came into force Jul 1 this year entitle all non-domestic consumers of
gas and electricity to choose their own supplier. But although the EC
vice-president for energy and transport Loyola de Palacio said they were an
essential step towards a fully competitive energy market, she said much work
still had to be done to deal with the "dominant and even monopolistic
positions of the incumbent operators" and that it would cost money to link
adjoining networks and ensure enough capacity. The 18 are: Germany, Belgium,
Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Latvia, Malta, UK, Czech
Republic, Slovakia, Sweden, Greece, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Luxembourg.

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