Brussels, 14/05/2001 (Agence Europe) - "Member states marked a very strong commitment in favour of a rapid opening up of the gas and electricity markets, even though we cannot conceal differences over the question of timing", said the Swedish Minister for Industry, Lars Rekke, at the end of the Energy Council in Brussels on Monday. The Commissioner for energy, Loyola de Palacio, hoped that ongoing work would allow for "tangible results" at the Barcelona Summit in March 2002, as requested by the Stockholm Summit. "The Council allowed us to reach a consensus on the working method between here and Barcelona", Lars Rekke stated. The current and future Presidencies (Swedish, Belgian and Spanish) have undertaken to cooperate to move forward with the issue in the framework of the Council's traditional technical structures, and "not an ad hoc working group" as notably proposed by the French.
France and Germany confirmed during the debate their radical opposition to the draft directive and regulation proposed by the Commission for the total opening up of the gas and electricity markets in 2005. The German minister of the Economy, Werner Muller considered that account needed taking of the specific nature of national markets and not necessarily impose a single regulator that would impose more bureaucracy, in a State like Germany where there are already 600 energy operators. The French Minister for Energy, Christian Pierret, said that France was in favour of "a gradual opening up and control" of the markets. "Opening could go much further for large eligible clients, chemical industries, electrolysis, steelworks, etc.. but we have no intention of changing our stance regarding all consumers", he told the French press. The French Secretary of State stressed that the French market is already open to competition, even if the gas directive has not yet been transposed into French law. Commissioner de Palacio, for her part, stressed that the EU is a "community of law". It is therefore based on the application of texts adopted and the Commission will therefore continue with the legal proceedings initiated against France before the Court of Justice.
As it had done during the Stockholm Summit, France reaffirmed its strong opposition to the deadlines fixed by the Commission. Christian Pierret even made it clear when speaking to the press that the question of deadlines was not at stake during this Council, although ministers devoted part of their working lunch to the issue. The United Kingdom and the Netherlands insisted, however, for rapid liberalisation of energy markets.