Brussels, 09/10/2006 (Agence Europe) - Following a meeting with José Manuel Barroso last Thursday, the head of the European Energy Regulators (ERGEG), Sir John Mogg said he was “very encouraged by the (Commission) President's determination” to push for enhanced powers for national regulators. The Commission had to propose laws to strengthen and harmonise national regulators' powers and guarantee their independence at national and Community levels, Sir John said in a press release, adding that an independent, effective regulatory structure at EU level was needed. He has been increasing the pressure on those responsible for energy issues in the three institutions for several months. Over the last few weeks, Sir John has argued the need for new legislation to tackle the “regulatory gap” that exists across the EU's national borders before Commissioners Andris Piebalgs (Energy) and Neelie Kroes (Competition), the President of the Energy Council, Finnish minister Mauri Pekkarinen and the chairman of the EP energy committee, British MEP Giles Chichester. Sir John believes the new legislative framework should reinforce and harmonise the powers of national regulators to ensure their independence from governments and industry. It should also facilitate the development of a single EU grid: the ERGEG backs the suggestion in the Green Paper of putting in place a single EU Grid Code and a single central body to monitor cooperation between transmission system operators (TSOs) and publish their findings. Finally, the new legislative framework should ensure effective unbundling, either through full ownership unbundling (separation of vertically integrated activities), which is the regulators' preferred approach, or through structural unbundling, where ownership unbundling is either not possible or is disproportionate. (eh)