Power Engineering - Eurelectric president welcomes European expansion and liberalization

23 June 2003 - Hans Haider, President of the Union of the Electricity Industry-Eurelectric today welcomed the "historic agreements that will lead on the one hand to the development of a border-free Union of 25-plus countries approaching 500 million inhabitants and on the other to a liberalized EU Internal Energy Market with free choice for customers".

Speaking ahead of Eurelectric's Annual Conference & Convention, in Prague, Mr. Haider underlined the association's active support for the current enlargement process, the development of a new framework for energy relations with East Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Southern Mediterranean countries, and for the "sensible and reasonable compromise" achieved by the EU legislative institutions in adopting the "accelerated energy liberalization package" in recent weeks.

Talking to the international press corps just before the arrival of some 500 delegates for the Eurelectric annual event, Hans Haider spoke of the historic enlargement that will create the largest single electricity market in the world. This widening of the energy market, coupled with the "deepening" of the market through the liberalization process, will create a "win-win" situation, provided that the necessary market structures are put in place and reforms properly carried through, said the Eurelectric President. He outlined the cooperative work undertaken by the association to help the energy industries in the new and prospective EU Member States
take on board the acquis communautaire - the EU rulebook - in the energy and related policy fields, and highlighted the contribution Eurelectric is making towards a new framework for energy relations with "new neighbours".

Commenting on prospects for a pan-European energy market, he stressed that "Eurelectric supports the extension of energy infrastructures both eastwards and south around the Mediterranean Basin", noting that "some political hurdles need to be overcome", and stressing that "the issue of reciprocity in market structures and in environmental and safety aspects also needs to be addressed".

Turning to the "deepening" of the EU energy market that will be ushered in between 2004 and 2007 by the recent adoption by the Parliament and the Council of the "accelerated liberalization package", Mr. Haider congratulated the European Commission and the two legislative bodies on their work, which achieved a "reasonable and sensible compromise" package that will "provide legal certainty for electricity companies as they prepare to meet the requirements of full liberalization".

Mr. Haider listed a number of areas where attention is still required to remove barriers to the creation of a truly level playing field and foster the development of a genuine integrated energy market. These include inter alia remaining asymmetries between the treatment of gas and electricity; the need for national regulators to coordinate their work so as to ensure coherent regulation across the Community; varied public service requirements; the variety of disparate support mechanisms for goals such as promotion of renewable energies and cogeneration; and the need for overall congruence with environmental requirements and for equality of effort from other sectors when it comes to meeting the "Kyoto" targets and other social and environmental goals.

To be considered successful, the EU market framework "must help to ensure the existence of a robust and competitive electricity industry able to serve the needs of industry and household customers and meet its commitments to society as a whole", he underlined. Among other factors, this implies that the industry must be able to maintain "a sound basis for attracting vital investment". Eurelectric will continue to work with policymakers and legislators on these various challenges in the "post-liberalization era", vowed Hans Haider.

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