Press Release: Withdrawal of the legislative proposals on oil stocks: the Commission will retake the initiative

Following institutional blocking in Parliament and Council, the European Commission decided on 20 October 2004 to withdraw the legislative proposals made in September 2002 to reform the Community management of oil stocks, especially in cases of supply crisis. However, in the context of continuous rises in oil prices and market speculation, the Commission remained convinced of the need to improve the EU legislation in force, dating mainly from the first oil crisis, and therefore reserved the right to make other proposals to better meet EU needs.