International Political Dialogue - The Internal Market for Energy: What Progress Comes with the Third Liberalisation Package?

International Political Dialogue - The Internal Market for Energy: What Progress Comes with the Third Liberalisation Package? [printable version]

The Internal Market for Energy: What Progress Comes with the Third Liberalisation Package?
Brussels

Within the Liberal Breakfast Series of the Dialogue Programme Brussels, Alexander Count Lambsdorff MEP spoke on the subject “The Internal Market for Energy: What Progress comes with the Third Liberalisation Package”? The “European Liberal Democrats and Reform” Party (ELDR) and the FDP's foreign branch for Europe (AGE) are co-operative partners in this event series.

Alexander Count Lambsdorff, member of the ALDE group in the European Parliament is Deputy Chairman of the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO), also provided some explanations concerning his proposal for an unbundling of electricity groups, just adopted by an overwhelming majority in the internal market committee. Under this proposal, EU member states shall have a choice within the first six years after the entry into force of the directive of either an unbundling of proprietary rights or the so-called effective and efficient unbundling. If a check-up on the situation of competition still finds any deficits, the European Commission shall be required to work out another legislative proposal which may also include a compulsory unbundling of proprietary rights, binding for all EU members.

Lambsdorff mentioned that “data offered by the Commission in the third energy package [is] insufficient to underpin an unbundling of proprietary rights. Therefore, member states shall first be given an opportunity to achieve the objectives of a liberalisation of the electricity markets - i. e., genuine competition and lower prices for consumers – by ways less drastic than an unbundling of proprietary rights”.

It is very probable that in June the European Parliament will come to a final position regarding the proposals by the Commission on the third energy liberalisation package from September 2007. However, the next item on the agenda is a decisive vote of the European Parliament’s Committee for Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE).

The audience included representatives from the European Commission, the European Parliament as well as from a number of representative offices of companies and states and from the press.

You will find a press release [in German] via www.lambsdorffdirekt.de.

The report by the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection on the proposal for a directive by the European Parliament and the Council to amend Directive 2003/54/EC concerning common rules for the internal market in electricity (KOM (2007) 0528 – C6-0316/2007 – 2007/0195(COD)) (Author: Alexander Count Lambsdorff ) is accessible (in German) via http://www.europarl.europa.eu.