Brussels, 23/05/2003 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament's Committee on Industry and Energy voted on Thursday on compromise amendments concerning three reports on the dossier on completion of the internal energy market (Turmes, Rapkay, and Mombaur). The vote focused largely on the issue of funds for dismantling and waste management: the committee eventually positioned itself in favour of an inter-institutional statement, as opposed to binding provisions in the directive. The Parliament vote, originally planned for May, will take place during the June session.
Parliament and Council had failed to reach agreement on the question of funds for dismantling and waste management at the Trialogue meetings: Council wanted an inter-institutional statement engaging the three European institutions "only" politically to ensure correct usage of funds, whilst Parliament wanted legally binding provisions for the use and management of these funds to be included in the directive. The Parliamentary committee eventually rejected an amendment along these lines, and opted for the inter-institutional statement, and a Commission statement in which this institution undertakes to publish an annual report on the use of funds for dismantling and waste management, and to make sure that provisions to this end in the Euratom Treaty are correctly applied. "Instead of voting for a straight ban on the use of these dismantling funds, the committee made do with a non-binding political statement by the three European Institutions (…) This will mean that German and French electricity giants will be able to carry on mopping up other European companies", said Claude Turmes. He also cast aspersions on the Commission statement, specifically targeting Energy Commissioner Loyola de Palacio. "Her objective is to regain Commissioner Monti's competencies on competition in this sector. This would lead to the intolerable situation of a divided energy market, where nuclear energy, unlike all other forms of energy, would not be subject to competition", he added.
Report by Luxembourg Green Claude Turmes on the completion of the internal electricity market: in its adoption of all the other compromise amendments, the committee is reinforcing provisions on labelling: Member States must ensure that invoices include information on the environmental consequences of sources of energy (CO2 emissions, radioactive waste) and take measures to check the accuracy of information provided by suppliers. The committee also clarifies the provision on transport network managers (TNM) and distribution network managers (DNM), and brings in co-operation mechanisms between a parent company and its subsidiaries: the fact that the TNM or the DNM, part of an integrated company, must be independent legally and for decision-making purposes, does not mean that ownership of the network and the company's assets must be separated. Furthermore, the parent company will approve the annual financial plan, but may not give instructions on day-to-day management, nor on decisions concerning the construction or improvement of certain transport lines. The role of national regulating authorities is also reinforced: 1) they contribute to the development of the internal market and to creating conditions of fair competition, by co-operating amongst themselves and with the Commission; 2) they must publish an annual report on the results of their monitoring activities; 3) until 2010, they must submit to the Commission, on 31 July each year, and then every two years after that, a report on the competition situation on the market, and on measures taken by the Member States to guarantee a context of fair competition. In its annual report, the European Commission may make recommendations, notably on labelling provisions, and on measures taken to counter negative effects of dominant market positions, and concentration of markets. If necessary, before 1 July 2007, it may submit to Parliament and Council measures on dominant positions and concentration of the market. Lastly, the committee adopted amendments ensuring guarantees of public service to households, and, as and when Member States see fit, to small enterprises (security of supply, reasonable tariffs), and to guarantee equality of access of national consumers to EU electricity companies.
Report by German Socialist Bernhard Rapkay on common rules for the internal natural gas market: the compromise amendments concerning TNMs and DNMs, Commission reports on the state of the gas market, national regulatory authorities, and fair access of national consumers contain similar provisions to those of the compromise amendments in the Turmes report.
Report by German Social-democrat Peter Mombaur on conditions of access to the network for cross-border electricity exchanges: the compromise amendments adopted notably provide for congestion problems in the network to be tackled using non-discriminatory solutions.