Strasbourg, 17/06/2008 (Agence Europe) - The day before the vote on four of the five texts of the 3rd legislative package aimed at completing liberalisation of the internal market for electricity and gas, the European Parliament met in plenary, on Tuesday 17 June in Strasbourg, to hold a lengthy debate on key measures to ensure that European consumers and citizens enjoy security of energy supplies and affordable energy prices.
Speaking on behalf of the Slovenian Presidency, Janez Lenarèiè recalled the broad lines of the compromise found by the Council during the meeting of energy ministers on 6 June this year. By extending an alternative option to ownership unbundling of energy operators' activities (production/provision and transport network) to the sectors of electricity and gas - the option of independent transport system operator (TSO), called the ITO model (independent transmission operator) - this would avoid dismantling of the large groups (EUROPE 9677-9678).
Eluned Morgan (PES, UK), who is rapporteur on the proposal for a directive aimed at amending Directive 2003/54/EC on common rules for the electricity market, reaffirmed that she was keen on the option preferred by the Commission to ensure effective separation, that of ownership unbundling, which should, she says, be the only option. She said that vertically integrated companies “have no incentive to increase investment and strengthen interconnections if they also have transmission networks [Ed. High power lines]”. “If we fudge the issue now, we will fail in sending out a clear signal to investors”, Ms Morgan went on to say. The eight member states (Ed.: headed by Germany and France), who are opposed to ownership unbundling, “protect national champions who want to invest in other markets but refuse entry into their own”, she added. Ms Morgan expressed disappointed at the compromise reached in Council, saying it had given way to the blocking minority. She was also disappointed at the lack of firmness on the part of the Commission accused of not having defended its preferred solution at all cost. Ms Morgan also called for closer cooperation between national regulatory authorities and competition authorities.
The rapporteur on the proposal for a regulation to amend Regulation 1228/2003 on conditions for access to the network for the crossborder electricity trade, Alejo Vidal Quadras (EPP-ED) of Spain, stressed the importance of increasing interconnections and of giving more power to the regulators in order to ensure a competitive situation on the internal energy market. Mr Vidal-Quadras admitted that the ownership unbundling option is “not a cure-all solution” but that it is a “necessary prerequisite” to seek to resolve problems on energy markets. “There's a will to reach an agreement”, he said, but turning to the representative of the Slovenian presidency, Mr Lenarèiè, he said: “Please pass it on to the Council that [this will] has to be reciprocal”.
Giles Chichester (EPP-ED), British rapporteur on the proposal for a regulation establishing the energy regulators' cooperation agency, said one should go further than the Commission's proposal on this text, stressing the importance of strengthening cooperation between national regulatory authorities and the TSO. He also called for the agency to have the greatest possible independence when it comes to regulation. Finally, in favour of ownership unbundling, Mr Chichester called on Ms Morgan to “hold the line. We need a big majority tomorrow”.
Speaking on behalf of the EPP-ED Group, Gunnar Hökmark of Sweden stressed the “common responsibility for addressing energy poverty”. He continued: “Are the European energy markets good enough, functioning well enough? No. If we're to respond to the challenges of climate change and security of supply, we need open and fair competition, a level playing field, and more investment”. “That said, the Council has a responsibility to find a compromise but the EP has the responsibility to find the best possible solution”, he added.
Speaking on behalf of the Socialist Group, Reino Paasilinna of Finland stressed that the EP was keen on the consumer protection dimension. Taking the view that the European energy commissioner, Andris Piebalgs, who defends dismantling of the large groups, is the “victim of a bureaucratic plot”, Miroslav Randsdorf (GUE/NGL of the Czech Republic) called on the EU to impose a moratorium on energy prices. Mia De Vits (PES, Belgium) defended, like Ms Morgan, the possibility for member states to apply social tariffs. Speaking on behalf of the Greens, Rebecca Harms of Germany defended ownership unbundling as the best way to avoid a “Franco-German cartel” formed by the large vertically integrated operators of both these countries. Along the same lines, Claude Turmes of Luxembourg denounced the “hold-up of €70 billion stolen from European consumers”. Finally, Anne Laperrouze of France (ALDE) said too much time has been lost on the question of ownership unbundling, an option which, in her view, “does not dismiss the risks of speculatory network management”. (E.H./transl.tl)