25/04/2001 (Agence Europe) - "Sooner or later, the reform of Gaz de France will take place, as it is in the interest of the workers and users", is what the French Minister of the Economy, Laurent Fabius, announced on RTL radio on Tuesday. The French Government has withdrawn its bill linking the transposition of the European directive on the liberalisation of gas to the opening up of the capital of GDF, for lack of a "consensus within the plural majority" (see EUROPE of 19 April, p.12), but, said Mr. Fabius: "You can only sell gas if you produce it, whereas today, Gaz de France only produces less than 5% of its gas and so sooner or later there will have to be a reform so as to be able to include a gas producer". An agreement with the Norwegian Statoil, notably, is frequently raised in this context. Asked about this possible u-turn, the Commission spokesperson for energy said that, for the Commission, the question of opening up the market and the statute of companies were "two distinct things", but everything that went along the lines of greater openness was "welcome".