3-4 February Energy Informal

Date: 08/02/1996

EU energy ministers remain divided over how far electricity liberalisation should go after their informal meeting in Italy last weekend, raising fears that the plan might be abandoned if there is no agreement by June.

MINISTERS have been given three months to break the deadlock after failing to agree on a formula for settling the dispute at their gathering in Bologna, where they considered a compromise plan drawn up by Italian energy minister Alberto Cló based on limited opening of electricity markets and common organisational structures. Despite Cló's efforts, the liberalisers, led by Germany and the UK, failed to agree with the EU's protectionists, led by France, over whether or not distributors should be included in the EU deal.

ITALY, which has made reaching an agreement on this issue a priority during its EU presidency, will now focus on trying to reach a consensus ahead of the next meeting of EU energy ministers on 7 May. A high-level group of EU experts is due to meet in Brussels on 12 February to examine the presidency compromise in detail.

ENERGY Commissioner Christos Papoutsis, tiring of more than five years of squabbles, warned in Bologna that if ministers were still at odds after the May meeting, “higher authorities” would be called in to settle their differences. A Commission spokesman announced after the meeting that if ministers failed to reach agreement in May, the issue would be referred to the EU summit in Florence in June.