Council and European Parliament negotiators made progress on Thursday 18 October on the revised regulatory framework for the EU electricity market (see EUROPE 12051).
During this third trilogue, a compromise was reportedly reached between Parliament and the Council on regional cooperation. The Council ensured that the regional centres are not to issue legally binding decisions. In exchange, the Parliament’s negotiating team requested that Member States accept the eleven new tasks planned by the Commission for these regional centres.
Common ground was also found on the subject of market entry for new aggregators. Parliament obtained the principle of freedom of entry into the aggregators market without the prior consent of the electricity suppliers. Most of these aggregators are independent aggregators (start-ups, new entrants, etc.).
Negotiators were able to discuss other very important topics in the electricity package, such as capacity mechanisms, regulated tariffs or the availability of interconnections. However, partly due to time constraints, it was not possible to achieve results on these themes.
Other trilogues in the pipeline. A next trilogue on the electricity issue is scheduled for mid-November in Strasbourg. It is possible that two more trilogues will be scheduled to achieve the objective, clearly stated by the three institutions, to reach a political agreement on the electricity package before the end of the Austrian Presidency.
The latter informed EUROPE that the third trilogue on the Directive and Regulation on the electricity market took place "in a constructive atmosphere". "Progress" has been made on both texts and, in the coming weeks, "comprehensive work will continue at the technical level”, the Presidency said. The Commission remains committed to reaching a final agreement with the co-legislator before the end of the year. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)