Brussels, 14/01/2011 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 14 January 2011, the European Commission invited comments from interested parties about the Greek government's offer to give 40% of lignite-fired electricity generation to competitors of the state-owned electricity incumbent Public Power Corporation (PPC). This measure was adopted to bring Greece into line with a European Commission decision of 5 March 2008 which found that it had infringed competition rules by continuing to grant PPC special access rights to lignite resources. This enabled PPC to keep and boost its dominant position on the wholesale electricity market in Greece to the detriment of competitors and hindering the arrival of any new players on the market. As an alternative to the measures the Greek government suggested in 2009 to correct the infringement of the rules, measures that were made compulsory by the Commission, the government told the Commission that it would continue to use the existing lignite mines but not open any new ones. It suggested giving 40% of lignite-fired electricity generation to PPC's competitors through drawing rights in existing lignite-fired power plants of PPC. Furthermore, participants will be offered participation in future power plant projects using currently available lignite. The Commission is now awaiting interested parties' views on the new Greek government proposals. (F.G./transl.fl)