Brussels, 25/11/2002 (Agence Europe) - On Monday, the Energy Council reached a political agreement of the legislative package relating to the liberalisation of the gas and electricity markets which covers the draft directive aimed at accelerating the opening up of the gas and electricity markets. The Fifteen also stuck to the commitments made at the last Barcelona Council. and managed to agree on the main sticking points that have left talks in deadlock for long time. "It is a historic day for the European Union, the internal market and European companies and consumers", said Bendt Bendtsen, Danish Minister for Economic Affair who chaired the meeting. For the Commissioner responsible for energy, Loyola de Palacio, "this agreement will ensure the European Union's economic competitiveness and the wellbeing of our citizens", "I hope that the European Parliament will approve it on second reading to avoid having to go through conciliation", she added. As for Nicole Fontaine, French Minister, she considered that "we managed to reach an acceptable overall compromise for al Member states, including France", stipulating that, on the question of the legal separation between producers and managers of distribution networks, France had approved "acceptable wording", and that it would be a legal separation and not a separation of ownership. Once the legislative package has been approved, Member states will have 15 months to transpose it.
In concrete terms, for the draft directive the political agreement provides for:
opening up of gas and electricity markets to all consumers, except for households, on 1 July 2004 at the latest, and all consumers on 1 July 2007 at the latest;
legal separation between electricity producers and transport network managers will be compulsory on 1 July 2004, whereas the legal separation between electricity producers and managers of distribution networks will be compulsory on 1 July 2007. Meanwhile, when the Commission draws up the report in January 2006, Member states will be able to supply information proving that it is possible to attain the objective of total and non-discriminatory access of distribution networks without there needing to be a legal separation, so as to ask to be exempted from this obligation. The European Commission will, in three months, have to provide its opinion on the question and possibly propose to Parliament and the Council to amend the directive (co-decision procedure);
the European Commission will make a draw up an assessment report on the directive's implementation in January 2006, to propose corrective measures where necessary.;
as provided for in the draft directive, access to gas storage installations will either be regulated or negotiated. In its report, the Commission will also assess the consequences of these two situations in Member states;
the obligation to supply a public service (obligation to provide energy at reasonable cost) will apply to all residential customers and "when Member states regard as appropriate", to small and medium-sized companies;
the regulatory authority, designated by Member states, will be responsible for approving te distribution cost and ensure the respect of the directive's rules;
As for the regulation of conditions for access to the network for trade in electricity, the date for its coming into effect was also set for 1 July 2004.