Brussels, 18/03/2003 (Agence Europe) - In an interview with the daily La Tribune, Commissioner Monti announced that he will be asking the Commission in early April to open formal review procedure concerning the "unlimited" guarantee enjoyed by the French energy group EDF thanks to its status which protects it from insolvency or bankruptcy. Mr Monti said he was not satisfied with the answers given by the French government on this point and considers that, when the group operates on competitive markets, it should be subject to the same rules as its competitors. Mario Monti specifies that the problem is not specific to EDF and that his services will review all the other public establishments of an industrial and commercial nature (EPIC). He recalls that his services had called on France last October to abolish the guarantee granted to EDF and for a premium to be paid by the group, to offset the privileged access to capital that this guarantee affords (see EUROPE of 17 October, p.7). The French government had, on 11 December 2002, challenged the decision and refused the measures proposed by the Commission.