The European Commission has begun the second stage of its infringement procedure against Germany, Belgium, Estonia, Ireland, Lithuania, Latvia, Sweden, Greece, Spain and Luxembourg. Its actions have been prompted by a failure to transpose into national law either one or both of the two EU Directives on the liberalisation of internal gas and electricity markets, adopted in June 2003. The directives provide freedom of choice of supplier for industrial customers since 1 July 2004 and for domestic customers from 1 July 2007.
The so-called 'reasoned opinions' follow letters of formal notice and the ten Member States concerned have two months to prove that they comply with legislation before the Commission goes to the European Court of Justice to take action.
"It's not enough to legislate: the Member States must apply the rules that they have made for themselves. The Commission will use all the means at its disposal to insist on this. This legislation is an essential step towards the completion of a truly competitive EU energy market and vital for the success of the Lisbon strategy," said Andris Piebalgs, the Commissioner responsible for energy.
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