European Union decision makers reached late Monday night an agreement over new rules to limit energy giants' grip on electricity grids and gas pipelines.
"We have an agreement on the text," said Radek Honzak, spokesman for the Czech Republic, which negotiated on behalf of the 27 E.U. countries. "We believe this compromise will be accepted by everybody because it's a balanced deal," he added, noting the accord has to be backed by the European Parliament and a large majority of E.U. governments.
According to Monday's agreement, energy companies will still be allowed to own their networks, but their management of the grids will be monitored by an independent regulator to avoiddiscriminatory behavior, the parliament explained in a statement Tuesday.
The European Commission in September 2007 proposed to force energy companies to sell off their networks, a process referred to as unbundling, to promote competition and lower prices by allowing new entrants into the sector and guaranteeing the same market access to any company wanting to sell gas or electricity.
Eight countries, led by Germany and France, fiercely opposed the plan and last June won a concession allowing national giants to retain ownership of their networks, although management of the networks would be separate and under strict independent regulatory supervision.
But the European Parliament had dug in its heels and, mainly in the electricity sector, wanted a return to something more like the original separate ownership proposal.
As a result of Monday's negotiation, lawmakers gave in on forced full ownership separation, but obtained stronger rights for consumers, such as the possibility to change gas or electricity supplier within three weeks, free of charge, and more transparent information about consumption.
European countries will still be able to enforce a full ownership separation if they wish, or force energy companies to hand over network operations to a fully independent body.
Decision makers also agreed Monday that national governments will have to give their green light in case a company from outside the E.U. wants to buy a pipeline grid or an electricity network.
With European Parliament elections in under three months, Monday's meeting, the seventh in a series between Czech diplomats and key European parliamentarians, was a last chance to reach a breakthrough before the issue risked being postponed for months.