Brussels, 01/04/2004 (Agence Europe) - The Commission has warned Greece that the exclusive rights enjoyed by traditional electricity provider Public Power Corporation (PPC) for the mining of lignite run counter to article 86 of the EC Treaty (the Member States "shall neither enact nor maintain in force any measure contrary to the rules of the Treaty"). The inquiry, which was triggered by a complaint, revealed that PPC, a State-owned group, benefits from exclusive rights in lignite, a raw material which is burnt to generate electricity, and thus enjoys an effective monopoly which causes clear competition distortions. This situation is all the worse because the exclusive rights in question, which were granted by a legislative decree and a law, are of very long duration and no royalty payment is directly attached to them. The Commission stated that three years after the supposed liberalisation of the electricity market, PPC is still the only supplier in the country although, theoretically, 34% of the Greek electricity market is today open to competition and eligible clients have the right to change supplier. Greece currently produces over 60% of its electricity from lignite extracts in the country, and PPC alone provides 98% of total production. As from the date of the warning, the Greek government has two months to justify or remove these exclusive rights.