Brussels, 05/02/2003 (Agence Europe) - In an interview with Welt am Sonntag, Ulf Böge, President of the German federal cartels office, denounced the approach taken by E.ON, the country's second largest electricity group, which, in order to have its merger with the largest German gas group Ruhrgas endorsed by the competition authorities, is said to have "bought" the approval of the nine competitors (including Fortum, EnBW and Concord Power), which had complained about the German government's exceptional authorisation procedure last summer.
We recall that Ruhrgas and E.ON had presented a proposal of merger for their companies, an operation amounting to EUR 10.7 billion, in order to create the largest European private energy group. The operation had been examined by the German authorities, as the turnover of both companies outside Germany did not reach the minimum level that would have required scrutiny on the part of the European Commission. Last July, the move was authorised to the considerable detriment of several competitors who decided to file a complaint as they feared that E.ON and Ruhrgas would take over the German gas market and control sales to consumers and gas pipeline networks (see EUROPE of 27 August, p.8). Last Friday, shortly before the announcement of a judgement by the Court of Appeal of Düsseldorf, which was to be in their favour, the nine complainants withdraw their complaint after having come to an agreement with E.ON, which had made major concessions. According to specialists in the sector, E.ON managed to keep the main participation, namely its stake in the Thüga holding, which holds minority stakes in some 130 municipal corporations, giving it a decisive competitive edge.
Speaking through the voice of one of its directors, David Halldearn, Ofgem - the British government regulator for energy markets - rose up against this decision announcing that it would contact the European Competition Commissioner, Mario Monti, in order to express its fears. "We are very unhappy about this. (…). The German judicial system seems incapable of addressing issues affecting the development of the German and European gas markets. (…) We are very concerned about this", he said. The operation will in fact have specific repercussions in the United Kingdom, where access to Russian gas depends essentially on open access to the German market.