Electricity market liberalisation:
De Palacio challenges Monti's competition
competencies
The European Commission will decide tomorrow on the wording of
a non-binding declaration related to the establishment of a fund for nuclear decommissioning and waste
management activities. Although the European Parliament and the Member States have NOT requested such a
declaration, Mrs de Palacio is falsely claiming that the European Parliament will vote against the whole
liberalisation directive next week in Strasbourg.
The issue behind the controversial
declaration is whether nuclear industry - through its decommissioning funds and radioactive waste management
policy - will be subject to a separate competition policy under the Euratom Treaty (Mrs de Palacio's political
line) or whether it would fall under the same EC Treaty as the other sources of electricity production, with a
view to ensuring an undistorted functioning of the internal market (Mr Monti's line).
Claude Turmes MEP (Greens - Luxembourg), and Parliament rapporteur on the electricity market
liberalisation directive stated:
"European Competition Commissioner Monti has
obviously taken the right line - as was recently confirmed by the fact that the Commission is planning to launch
a proper investigation into the restructuring of British Energy under EU competition rules."
"What is now at stake is the future of the entire internal electricity market. If we want to
have only ONE market then we need only ONE competition policy. We can not allow the creation of a single
European energy market with two separate competition policies - one for nuclear energy and one for energy coming
from all other production sources."
"Mrs De Palacio's attempts to seize
competencies from Mr Monti on nuclear-related state aid and competition policies is a serious threat to the
establishment of a level playing in the energy market. The direction that Mrs De Palacio and her French Director
General Mr Lamoureux have chosen is odd to say the least. During final negotiations between the Council and the
European Parliament on the liberalisation directives, Mr Lamoureux introduced a declaration that neither the
Parliament nor the Commission had requested. This declaration was never discussed between the services and Mr.
Monti is furthermore completely opposed to it."
"Regarding the decommissioning funds
there are two elements which should not be confused. With extremely tenuous interpretation of Article 31, the
Euratom treaty may have some competencies on the setting up of sufficient funds for the decommissioning of
reactors and for radioactive waste management. But Euratom has NO competencies at all when it comes to
competition policy. The EC treaties guarantee a single market and a single competition policy under DG
Competition's scrutiny. Mrs De Palacio should not try to interfere with this."