Brussels, 14/10/2002 (Agence Europe) - During its weekly meeting on Wednesday, the European Commission will study whether it is appropriate to open detailed proceedings against the company, Electricité de France (EDF), which is said to have illegally enjoyed financial advantages linked to its status as a public enterprise. Practices that are being brought into question concern the period 1987-1996. Mario Monti, Competition Commissioner, mainly reproaches EDF for having obtained funding during that period at favourable rates thanks to its status as a public enterprise, which would have given it a considerable competitive edge over its rivals. One can but also recall the State guarantees that German public banks have enjoyed for a long while now (see EUROPE of 2 March, 2002, p.11). Competition services are also concerned about a number of tax advantages granted to EDF for the transport of electricity. These measures are said to have allowed EDF to gain a footing on foreign markets more easily (Italy, United Kingdom, Spain), taking advantage of the partial liberalisation of the energy market that France itself has balked at applying since the first phase of liberalisation in 1996. So far, France has only agreed to minimum access to its national market, which is highly dominated by EDF, at a time when the Fifteen envisage complete opening of electricity and gas markets (to be discussed at the Energy Council in November). If the Commission decides to initiate proceedings, France may be called upon to withdraw the unlimited State guarantee for all loans enjoyed by EDF on the basis of its status as a public enterprise of an industrial and commercial kind. The Commission could also urge that Italy and Spain repeal the protectionist decrees that they had adopted in the summer in order to limit investment by traditional electricity and gas operators of other Member States in the capital of national companies. These decrees indirectly targeted EDF's entry into the capital of Montedison (Italy) and Hidrocantábrico (Spain).