Brussels, 07/12/2007 (Agence Europe) - Meeting up on 6 December in Paris as part of the Franco-German talks, the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, and French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, promised a joint Franco-German alternative to the European Commission provisions on ensuring effective unbundling of energy producers' activities (production/supply and transport/networks) for the end of January 2008. During a joint press conference Mr Sarkozy indicated that, “We decided that France and Germany would make a joint proposal regarding the directive on the internal market in electricity and gas by the end of January”. On Monday 3 December at the Energy Council, the Portuguese presidency called on member states that disagreed with the ownership unbundling options and the independent system operator system (ISO) to quickly, “come up with a concrete alternative that the Commission is ready to explore in detail”. French and Dutch delegations confirmed that they were working, in collaboration with Austria, Bulgaria, Latvia, Luxembourg, Slovakia and Cyprus on this third option (EUROPE 9556). (E.H.)