Brussels, 02/06/2008 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 30 May, the European Commission welcomed proposals put forward by the German electricity giant RWE to improve competition conditions on the German gas market. The company has proposed to sell its German gas distribution network in the west of the country (RWE Transportnetz Gas GmbH) in response to the investigation launched in May 2007 by the Commission (EUROPE 9425). The Commission has announced its intentions of carrying out a market test on the proposed measure: if the results are satisfactory, the Commission's approval will become binding on RWE, in virtue of article 9 of the 2003 regulation, and the investigation will not continue. RWE's initiative comes under the ownership unbundling policy, encouraged by the Commission since the sectoral investigation of 2006 (EUROPE 9341). Certain member states, however, such as Germany and France, are opposed to the forcible dismantling of the former historic operators, which they see as an attack on ownership laws. The energy ministers are meeting this week and will discuss this dossier, amongst other things. (C.D.)