|
France Telecom fines
- The European Court of First Instance on 30 January upheld a fine of €10.35 million imposed by the European Commission on France Telecom in 2003 for competition abuses. The Commission had found Wanadoo, an internet subsidiary of France Telecom, operated a predatory pricing regime.
Road toll doubts
- The Commission on 31 January reached an initial conclusion that Italy’s obstruction of a merger between toll-road operators Abertis and Autostrade violated EU merger law. Italy’s Autostrade abandoned plans to merge with Spain’s Abertis at the end of last year because of regulatory hurdles imposed by Rome. Italy has 15 working days to respond.
Spanish energy
- The Commission has stepped up action against Spain for its failure to remove conditions imposed on German energy group E.ON’s bid for Endesa. In a letter sent to the Spanish government, the Commission asks for explanations as to why conditions have not yet been lifted. Spain’s attempts to address the Commission’s concerns, raised in September and December last year, have so far been judged unsatisfactory.
Deficit action halted
- EU finance ministers agreed on Tuesday to end proceedings against France over its public deficit. France is expected to post a deficit of 2.7% of gross domestic product for 2007 and 2.6 % for 2007. EU disciplinary action against was launched in 2003 after its public deficit broke the 3% deficit rule governing eurozone economies. Joaquín Almunia, economic and monetary affairs commissioner, said he hoped action against Germany, Greece and Malta could also be dropped in the first half of this year.
Joining euro queue
- Applications from Cyprus and Malta to join the eurozone are expected "in the next few weeks", German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück said on Tuesday.
Blackout blame
- Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs on Tuesday presented a report from the Union of Co-ordination of Electricity Transmission, which concluded that German energy group E.ON was to blame for a power blackout in November that affected France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy and Spain.
UK pension ruling
- The European Court of Justice (ECJ) last week ruled that UK workers who lost their pensions as a result of their employer’s insolvency received "inadequate" protection from the state and that the UK was in breach of EU regulations protecting pension rights. The ECJ referred the case back to the UK courts.
Telecoms regulators at the European Commission are hoping the German government will have a last-minute change of heart over a new law aimed at protecting national champion Deutsche Telekom from competition rules while it invests in new broadband infrastructure.
|
