If the U.K. is expected to abide by E.C. Competition rules then why can other member states get away with bending the rules to meet their own national interests?
The U.K. has long been following EU Competition rules to the letter allowing fully open opportunities for foreign ownership of its utilities. So much so that there are only two major British owned gas and electricity suppliers left, namely Centrica and Scottish and Southern Energy both of which have not escaped recent rumours of foreign takeover.
However, it would appear that when Europe talks about fully open and integrated markets it really means open for some but closed for others. Neelie Kroes, the European Competition Commissioner, made it clear that she would not tolerate the lack of cross-border competition in mainland Europe yet when she proposed that the only real solution to this problem was a break-up of the giant European utilities she was forced to accept a watered down version under severe pressure from the German and French governments.
Others, such as the Spanish, have not been quite so keen as the British to take the competition rules literally. So it was perfectly O.K. for Spanish...
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