European Parliament endorses Commission's view on unbundling

Yesterday during its plenary session, the European Parliament accepted the Resolution on Prospects for the internal gas and electricity market.

With regard to unbundling, the Parliament "considers transmission ownership unbundling to be the most effective tool to promote investments in infrastructures in a non-discriminatory way, fair access to the grid for new entrants and transparency in the market".

It "underlines however that this model might not address all of the issues at stake such as interconnections or congestion points".

The Parliament therefore "calls on the Commission to present an analysis in which the expected costs of ownership unbundling for the Member States, the expected effects on investment in the networks, as well as the benefits for the internal market and consumers are demonstrated". This analysis should address the question whether (and if so what) problems or costs would arise if no unbundling is carried out and should consider what the advantages would be of an ownership unbundling compared to the independent regional market operator approach.

Finally, the Parlieament "insists that no third country company should be allowed to purchase energy infrastructure unless there is reciprocity with that country".

The full text of the parliamentary debate can be found here.

European Parliament endorses Commission's view on unbundling