"I have to be quite open with you," Günther Oettinger told an audience of businessmen and diplomats on 29 September. "I have some doubts as to whether the [2014] goal is achievable by that deadline."
Oettinger also announced that the European Commission would begin infringement proceedings against 18 member states which had not adopted the EU's third energy package, six months after the official deadline.
"We are very disturbed to see that there seems to be a certain amount of hesitation among all member states," Oettinger said.
"Unfortunately, the same representative, the same minister who approves a package in the [European] Council does not push the implementation of that package through," he lamented.
EU member states which have not begun to transpose legislation yet include: Bulgaria, Estonia, Spain, Cyprus, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Romania, Slovakia, and the United Kingdom.
But an EU official later told EurActiv that as many as 20 member states could be included in the final Brussels action.
After receiving letters of formal notice, the states will have two months to reply. If they still fail to comply, the European Commission would then be approached for a reasoned opinion against them.
"After that, the final stage is that we would go to the European Court of Justice," the official said. "We would ask the court to condemn them and request a lump sum and a penalty payment from the member states concerned." A payment could then be levied for each day of non-compliance.
"We hope we don't have to go that far," the source added but the seriousness of the Commission's intent was clear.
"We're not just playing games here," Oettinger told the conference. "This is part and parcel of our obligation as a Commission."
Rowing against the tide
The third energy liberalisation package was adopted in July 2009 to prevent the formation of energy company monopolies, by splitting their supply and production chains from transmission activities – a process dubbed "ownership unbundling" in EU jargon.
The Commission's argument was that unbundling energy production from transmission businesses – gas pipelines and electricity grids – would encourage investment in energy infrastructure.
But the private sector proved loath to take out its Mastercard during a recession.
Johannes Teyssen, chair of energy giant E.On told the conference that Europe's energy sector, like its banks, currently seemed to be "uninvestable and unattractive to any international capital".
"How important is it to have a little more infrastructure if the whole system is derailing?" he asked.
The auguries for Europe's internal energy market, a flagship liberalisation programme of the EU's energy department, were consequently dark.
In a speech replete with mixed and often despairing metaphors, Oettinger spoke of a European energy market that was at a "standstill," "taking one step forward and two back" and rowing against the tide.
"If we stop rowing then we will be dragged in the wrong direction by the current," he said.
His language, and the "naming and shaming" of tardy member states reflected frustration in Brussels at the slow pace of movement towards the 2014 goal, the EU official said.
"Time matters," he told EurActiv. "We need investment in infrastructure to reach our targets and therefore we need a stable regulatory framework."
In a further sign of a beefing up of the EU energy department's resolve, on 27 September, the Commission raided 20 gas companies from mostly central and eastern European countries, including the Russian gas monopoly Gazprom, suspected of anti-competitive practices.
Arthur Neslen
COMMENTS
E.On's comments about investment in the European energy sector have to be taken with a grain of salt. It's maybe the OLD energy sector which is having trouble attracting investment. Wind and solar are booming throughout Europe.
I was going to watch the telly – commenting on the above is just so much more … fun. To quote Lady Gaga (Poker Face) “I love it” & “Promises Promises”
I will start with the UK – since in some respects it is a supposed “leader” in energy “markets” (whatever than means). Looking at UK DNOs, two are owned by energy producers, one of which is Iberdrola the other being a stand alone, SSE (I do hope they will speak to me again – sigh). So I guess that for at least two UK energy players “unbundling” is on the cards, be interesting to see how that one plays out.
Moving on, readers will be amused to know that autarchy is alive and well (did it ever die?) in France where the R&D bunch of EdF feed their efforts to ERDF and thence to the various French equipment suppliers. Outsider suppliers won’t be shot on sight but they will be wasting their time – if you ain’t French don’t apply. I don’t blame them by the way – but an “internal Euro market” – pu-lease. (Note of course that the 3rd package does not apply to the area of equipment sales).
And then of course we have Guenters home state of Germany. Home to 500 DNOs (honestly). Clearly a case of German individualism (??) but don’t mention the costs – after all one does so like diversity even though it costs the consumer a packet.
Finally, in the case of TSO infrastructure, one is heartened to see that France and Spain will, at some point in the 22nd century, have electrical interconnectors fit for purpose (& no the 22nd was not a misprunt). In the case of Germany, one can only applaud foreign TSOs such as Tennet buying German TSO assets perhaps to make sure that issues such as “how the hell do we move German north sea wind to south Germany?” don’t get exported to errr… The Netherlands and Belgium (amongst others).
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