Brussels, 13/10/2004 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday, the European Commission sent letters of formal notice to Germany, Belgium, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Latvia, Malta, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Sweden, Greece, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Luxembourg asking them to transpose European directives on the internal markets for gas and electricity into national law. Recognising that calling 18 Member States to order is "impressive", Loyola de Palacio nonetheless took pains to clarify that just because proceedings had started did not mean that none of them had liberalised their energy markets. Some of them, she emphasised, have partially transposed the directives, and may have omitted to include the provisions on universal service, for instance. The Commission is thus attempting to "get [these States] to include the missing elements". The vice-president of the Commission, who is responsible for Energy and Transport, pointed out that "since 1 July 2004, the law entitles all non-domestic consumers of gas and electricity to choose their own suppliers", and feels that "the Commission needs to ensure delivery of the legitimate expectations it has itself fostered on the markets and among the public". Describing the directives as "key instruments for guaranteeing genuine competition in a unified EU market", Ms de Palacio acknowledged that "much work still has to be done to deal with the dominant and even monopolistic positions of the incumbent operators, and [that] investments will be needed to guarantee the interoperability of grids and networks, interconnection and an adequate level of capabilities and infrastructure". When asked about the reasons these proceedings had been launched right at the end of her mandate, despite having been announced at the end of June, the vice-president managed to get in a dig at her predecessor, Neil Kinnock, in an allusion to the state of her portfolio when she took it up: "I am in the habit of leaving everything clear for my successors, with nothing left under the carpet".
The directives on gas and electricity, which were adopted on 26 June 2003, provide that as of 1 July 2004, industrial clients may freely choose their supplier, with this possibility coming in for domestic clients on 1 July 2007. These texts combine opening up to competition with maintaining quality of service, universal service and the protection of vulnerable consumers and the safety of supply objectives. In a press release, the Commission stresses that "these directives will determine the shape of the EU energy market for years to come and serve as a basis for the development of energy partnerships with the EU's neighbours, in particular the Western Balkans". It adds that the "actual opening up to competition is not something that can be reflected by indicators such as the number of changes of suppliers". For this reason, the Commissions is set to keep a close eye on the integration and degree of openness to competition of the energy markets, with the annual publication of a stage report, in line with a request by the European Council of Barcelona in 2002. The next edition is due out in December. Today, an average of just one quarter of big users has changed electricity supplier in the EU since the market was opened up to competition (at the end of the 1990s).