Just to underline that these reports confirm what I had reported 
independently, namely that if the Commission is thwarted by the Member States 
over the acceleration directives and regulation that the Commission will use 
its powers unilaterally to pass the legislation using an Art 86(2) Directive 
(previously only used in the telecomms sector, these powers allow the 
Commission to not even consult the Member States or the European 
parliament).  The Commission has legal authority to do this and political 
cover as the Stockholm Conclusions indicate the strengthened use of 
competition law. Art 86 of the Amsterdam Treaty is within the Competition 
provisions. That said, one can see a definitive timetable emerging for market 
liberalisation; my bet is that the laws will be in place by this time next 
year, just after the French elections.  This contradicts the estimate 
supplied by some Parlementarians in the newspapers, such as todays FT, which 
suggest a five year time frame; perhaps the MEPs don't realise that the 
legislation may never get to them.

An interesting thought: if the legislation is passed under Art 86 we may get 
better legislation: there will be no need to compromise for Council and 
parliament sensitivities.

Brendan







Enron Media Cuttings
06/19/2001 12:14 PM
Sent by: Kuldeep Chana
To: Paul Hennemeyer/Enron@EUEnronXGate, Doug Wood/Enron@EUEnronXGate, Paul 
Dawson/Enron@EUEnronXGate, Peter Styles/LON/ECT@ECT, Richard 
Shapiro/NA/Enron@Enron, Alfredo Huertas-rubio/Enron@EUEnronXGate, Brendan 
Devlin/EU/Enron@Enron, Bruno Gaillard/Enron@EUEnronXGate, Nailia 
Dindarova/LON/ECT@ECT, Viviana Florio/Enron@EUEnronXgate, Jackie 
Gentle/LON/ECT@ECT
cc: Fiona Grant/Enron@EUEnronXGate 

Subject: EU energy market regulations...

Please find attached the following article/s:
'EC to debate market opening Wednesday' - Platts European Power Daily
'...distortions to be addressed urgently' - Platts European Power Daily
'...state aid cases to be investigated' - Platts European Power Daily


Kind Regards,
Kuldeep Chana