EU energy ministers failed to reach an agreement on electricity market liberalisation at a meeting yesterday (20 December)

Date: 21/12/1995

The main sticking point was whether or not to include distributors as well as producers of electricity in the deal. France, under pressure from public sector strikers at home, refused to open up the distribution market, while the UK and Germany said a production-only deal was not worth having. It now falls to Italy, which takes over the EU presidency in January, to negotiate an agreement. Energy Commissioner Christos Papoutsis has called on member states to settle their differences in 1996 and has asked energy ministers to hold an extraordinary meeting in March to try to break the impasse.