Europese Commissie waarschuwt Griekenland vanwege onvoldoende liberalisering elektriciteitsmarkt (en)
The European Commission sent today a reasoned opinion to Greece for failure to respect European legislation concerning common rules for the internal market in electricity, specifically the provisions on the unbundling of accounts of electricity undertakings. According to the Commission, the Greek electricity company's practice of including the lignite extraction cost into the electricity generation cost may indeed have the effect of distorting competition on the Greek electricity market.
The European Commission has decided to launch the second step of the infringement procedure by sending a reasoned opinion to Greece for incorrect application of European legislation on the internal market in electricity(1). The Commission considers that Greece has failed so far to ensure that its electricity company, Public Power Corporation (PPC), publishes unbundled accounts for lignite mining and the generation of electricity.
According to the legislation, the unbundling of accounts of electricity undertakings is necessary in order to avoid discrimination, cross-subsidization and distortion of competition. In this context the Commission sent a formal notice to Greece on 17 October 2003 specifying that it considers that lignite mining is not an electricity activity and consequently PPC should publish separate accounts for its lignite mining and electricity generation activities. After receiving a reply from Greece dated 21 January 2004, the Commission was not satisfied with the arguments presented by the Greek Authorities about why they treat lignite mining and electricity generation together in their published accounts.
Prior to the start of the Commission infringement procedure, the Greek Regulatory Authority for Energy (RAE) had addressed numerous recommendations to PPC against the publishing of its accounts presenting lignite mining activity together with the generation activity of the company. From April 2002 onwards, the Commission repeatedly asked the Greek Authorities to ensure the timely publication of unbundled accounts by PPC. It was after the decision by the Greek Regulatory Authority, in May 2003, to impose a fine on PPC for failing to submit its unbundled accounts in a proper way that the Commission took the view that Greece had failed to fulfil its obligations under the relevant legislation(2).
(1) ;Directive 96/92/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 December 1996 concerning common rules for the internal market in electricity, Official Journal L 027, 30/01/1997.
(2) ;Article 14 of the above mentioned Directive.