The European Commission stepped up its battle to open European Union energy markets to greater competition yesterday, threatening Greece and 15 other countries with court action for failing to implement EU energy rules, according to Reuters.
The EU started opening national markets for electricity and gas several years ago but in many countries – notably Germany and France – former monopolies still dominate, keeping prices high and making it difficult for newcomers to enter.
The Commission said the 16 countries it targeted yesterday had not done enough to implement the rules, despite receiving initial legal warnings last April.
Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, Estonia, Spain, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Sweden, Slovakia and the UK were sent final warnings, known as “reasoned opinions,” the EU executive said.
If a member state fails to comply with a reasoned opinion by the required deadline – typically two months – the Commission may bring the case before the European Court of Justice, the EU’s top court.
“The Commission regrets that insufficient progress has been made by member states in implementing in letter and in spirit EU 2003 directives setting up an internal market in gas and electricity,” it said in a statement.
”Incumbent electricity and gas companies largely maintain their dominant positions on ‘their’ national markets,” it said, adding that interconnection between national markets was blocking the creation of a single EU market for power and gas.