Speaking after a meeting of EU energy ministers in Brussels, Oettinger said that the European Commission was scanning legislation put forward by member states to incorporate the third energy package of legislation into national law.
"Once that process has been completed, we will start thinking about treaty infringement proceedings," he said.
But he added that the formal cut-off date of 3 March was "not an absolute deadline".
If the Commission were to enforce the deadline, it might in fact require extensive infringement proceedings. According to an internal report from the EU executive, "on 1 February 2011, not a single member state had yet notified its transposition measures to the Commission".
The 'non-paper', called 'The internal energy market – Time to switch into higher gear', forecast "clear risks" of delays to passing the legislation.
"Only in a few member states had draft legislation been submitted to parliament for adoption, or had the government been empowered by the parliament to adopt the necessary transposition measures," it said.
However, at yesterday's Energy Council meeting, Oettinger adopted a more conciliatory tone. The third package, he said, is "very much on the right track in most countries or has already entered into force". Other member states were lagging a bit behind, formally at least, the commissioner added.
Infringement procedure
In reality, the Commission only uses legal action as a last resort.
An EU diplomat told EurActiv that infringement proceedings were powerful instruments requiring detailed preparation, and as such were not used lightly. "Oettinger wanted to tell us 'we have our sword and sooner or later we can take it out of our bag but right now we're just watching you, so please hurry up!'," the diplomat said.
The Commission's careful balancing act between carrot and stick seems to reflect the importance attached to these complex measures of the internal market package.
The directives concerned propose several measures on which consensus was reached among the EU's member countries in 2009 after two years of heated debate.
They establish common rules for the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity and set rules for market access and sectoral tenders.
They also proffer guidelines for energy security, regularity, quality and price, including environmental protection, and energy efficiency.
For households and businesses, they ensure rights of access to electricity supply and the protection of vulnerable customers from disconnection too.
Much finalising of nitty-gritty details is now expected in European capitals over the weeks ahead to resolve issues such as the potential 'unbundling' or separation of ownership between gas production and distribution facilities.
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