The European Union executive took legal action against 17 member states today - including Ireland - for failing to follow EU rules that aim to open the 25-nation bloc's gas and electricity markets to more competition.
The European Commission said Austria, Belgium, Britain, the Czech Republic, Germany, Estonia, Spain, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Sweden and Slovakia would receive warnings for failing to properly adopt the EU rules. Spain would be warned for poor application.
'Member states must implement the directives on gas and electricity quickly and in full, not only in form but also in substance,' Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs said in a statement.
The measures to open gas and electricity markets fully to competition from July 1, 2007, were 'essential to achieve a high level of growth and competitiveness,' he added.
The barrage of litigation comes against a backdrop of fierce controversy over moves by France, Spain and Poland to block takeovers in their energy and financial services sectors, which critics have branded protectionism.
The states now have two months to explain how their national rules were compatible with EU legislation.
The EU is trying to create a better integrated gas and electricity market so consumers around the bloc can have more freedom to choose what company supplies their energy needs.
The Commission believes an EU internal energy market will reduce prices and boost the security of the bloc's supplies while creating more competition. But problems among member states when transposing the EU rules into national law were hurting those goals, it said.
'The member states are currently opening up their markets in such different ways that this is hampering the development of a genuinely competitive European market,' the Commission said.
It said the main problems included the persistence of regulated prices, the ability to choose a supplier, the powers of regulators, and preferential access given for some long-standing electricity or gas contracts.
The EU started liberalising its energy markets over six years ago but in many countries huge former monopolies still dominate the gas and power business, keeping prices high and making it difficult for newcomers to gain a foothold.
The Commission also began action against eight member states - Ireland, Italy, Poland, the Czech Republic, the UK, Latvia, Cyprus and Greece - for failing to comply with EU rules promoting renewable energy.
It also rapped Denmark and Finland for falling short of EU targets on biofuels, produced from agriculture waste, and Belgium, Cyprus and Greece for failing to meet obligations on European oil stocks legislation.
