Brussels, 14/09/2000 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday, the European competition authorities rejected the list presented by TotalFinaElf, of the buyers for part of its network of service station on French motorways. As a reminder, the Commission had authorised, last February, the take over of Elf Aquitaine by TotalFina on condition that the new entity sell a part of its assets, its network of French service stations, so as not to block competition (see EUROPE of 10 February). In fact Elf Aquitaine holds 20% of this market, a proportion that should be sold to several small actors capable of exercising effective competition. The spokesperson for Commissioner Monti indicated that the Commission had rejected the dossier as the buyers presented by TotalFina where not able to wage an aggressive pricing policy susceptible of creating sufficient competitive pressure. "The package of buyers is presently unacceptable", she indicated, however noting that the merger was not yet banned at this stage. The group has five days to submit a new list: following this period the Commission will make its decision over this operation.