Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to start by making the point with which my friend Mr Turmes concluded his speech, namely that we owe a debt of gratitude to our fellow rapporteurs and to the shadow rapporteurs. We have a total of two years of work behind us, and I have found the cooperation between the rapporteurs and shadow rapporteurs right across the groups to be highly collegial, very frank and full of trust, something I believe to be reflected in the outcome that we have achieved. I think this is a good result. Let me make four observations following on from what Mr Turmes has just said, with which I can only agree. Firstly, this legislative package opens up the way for more competition in Europe’s energy markets. In opening up the way for a truly integrated internal market in energy, we are making a contribution – our contribution – towards our shared goal of making the European Union the most competitive region in the world. We have to make use of the efficiency gains arising from an integrated internal market and its capacity for bringing about political integration in order to achieve this goal, but also especially so that our small and medium-sized enterprises should benefit from this internal market, and so that other consumers benefit more than they have done in the past from its outcomes and from its positive effects. Secondly, the essential consequence of previous directives on the internal market was that markets were opened up in an unbalanced way. They certainly brought about greater competitiveness, enhanced efficiency and reduced prices, but the unbalanced development of the opened markets and substantial deficiencies in the detailed rules mean that we now have to enact specific measures to speed up the process of opening up markets still further. This means that we have to ensure equal conditions for all participants in the market, minimise the danger of the market being dominated, and, as far as possible, put a stop to predatory practices, for example those engaged in by the big players to the detriment of small enterprises. The fact is that we are not aiming at the replacement of public monopolies by private ones, but at a wide-open internal market in energy. My third point is, therefore, indisputable. An essential component of what we have submitted to the vote in this House is to lay down an ambitious timetable for the complete opening-up of the market. The timetable that we have now laid down jointly with the Council is ambitious, and, if we can make it work, this will be a great leap forward in comparison with what we have had so far. My fourth point is that the access of third parties to the network – competition, in other words – has to be regulated, with transparency but without discrimination. One of the essentials for this is unbundling, the use of company law to unbundle the network from production on the one hand and retailing on the other. We need one or more regulatory authorities with supervisory capacity, with the capacity and obligation to report, but, above all, the power to give instructions and the capacity to impose sanctions. We have also established the need for the State to be able to impose obligations for the general benefit without at the same time nullifying competition. Although the basis on which this will be done is laid down in an appropriate way in the directives that we will be voting on the day after tomorrow, it remains incumbent on the Commission to keep a very watchful eye on market developments. It is the Commission that must take appropriate measures to prohibit anti-competitive conduct by companies, and, above all, the Commission that must see to it that the Member States transpose the directive properly and promptly. It must be conceded that the Council has, in the informal trilogue, moved some way from its original position and closer to that of Parliament, but that was urgently necessary in view of the fact that a number of detailed rules in one or more of the Common Positions were, in my view, somewhat problematic, containing openings whereby competition might be nullified. The tight time-frame therefore means that prompt transposition is of the essence; everything has to be transposed into national law within the space of a year. With reference to this, I want again to make it clear that it is for the Commission to monitor the market and the terms of competition. Let me again underline what Mr Turmes has just said, that the internal market in energy must be subject to Treaty competition law and must be evaluated by reference to it. The Treaty instruments must be applicable to it, especially where state subsidies and the control of mergers are concerned, and I think that, on this issue, the Commission can depend upon the political support not only of my group – I can promise them that – but also of this House as a whole. (Applause)

Political group: PSE