Brussels, 30/05/2008 (Agence Europe) -On Friday 30 May, the European Energy Commissioner welcomed the announcement by the German company EEX and Powernext of France of the creation, on 30 September, of a joint venture. At a press conference held in Brussels to present the new cooperation between the German and French spot markets, Andris Piebalgs said: "This important agreement is, I hope, a sign of greater progress in the European electricity market. Efficient trade in electricity is considered, in the energy policy for Europe drafted by the Commission, as a precondition for the smooth functioning of the electricity market".
Currently, the French and German spot markets represent nearly a third of European electricity production, and due to their situation in the electrical centre of gravity in Europe, they are connected to the whole of Europe. Under the terms of the new cooperation agreement, the spot markets of Austria, France, Germany and Switzerland will merge into a single entity to be based in Paris, whilst the derivative markets of the corresponding region will be grouped together in a separate infrastructure to be based in Leipzig, at the current headquarters of EEX. Mr Piebalgs put this latest cooperation between the spot markets in the context of the pentapartite forum, a joint initiative by Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, with a view to greater integration of their electricity markets. The countries of the pentapartite forum decided to undertake a process to couple the markets together in a framework of implicit options, as of early next year. (O.L.)