WRITTEN QUESTION E-1946/00 by Luis Berenguer Fuster (PSE) to the Commission. Assessment of the costs of transition to competition in the acquisition of a Spanish electricity firm.
Date: 2000-06-16
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Spain, control of State aid, electrical energy, intra-EU trade, merger

6.3.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 72 E/155

(2001/C 72 E/195)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1946/00

by Luis Berenguer Fuster (PSE) to the Commission

(16 June 2000)

Subject: Assessment of the costs of transition to competition in the acquisition of a Spanish electricity firm

According to information in the Spanish press, the purchase price of HidrocantÆbrica by Uni(cid:243)n Fenosa
increased by Ptas 200 000 million as a result of the assessment of its CTCs.

In the Commission(cid:146)s opinion, is this relevant to an assessment of the compatibility of these aids with the
Treaty?

Answer given by Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission

(19 July 2000)

It was widely reported in the press that the acquisition of a Spanish electricity firm to which the
Honourable Member refers did not go ahead in the end because the Spanish authorities were unwilling
to authorise it. Under the circumstances, the Commission takes the view that the question as to the
impact, if any, of the operation on the costs of transition to competition (CTCs) in the Spanish electricity
market is of no relevance.

In such an operation the purchase price is freely determined by the parties involved, who value the target
business in the light of their own criteria. Such criteria could in no way commit the Commission, which
has not yet taken any decision on CTCs from the viewpoint of state aid.

(2001/C 72 E/196)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-1948/00

by Antonio Tajani (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(7 June 2000)

Subject: Restitution of real property expropriated by the Yugoslavian Communist regime

Slovenian law provides at present that real property expropriated by the Communist regime must be
restored to its rightful owners or their heirs and successors.

Under that law only persons who were Yugoslavian citizens at the date of expropriation are deemed to be
entitled to such restitution.

As a result, all persons who did not have Yugoslavian citizenship at that time are barred from restitution,
even though they are Italian citizens or nationals of other Community Member States.

Objective discrimination of this kind based on a citizenship requirement for recognition of the right to the
restitution of expropriated property is clearly in breach both of the general principles of international law
and of
individuals on grounds of
nationality in the exercise of their property rights.

the specific Community rules prohibiting discrimination against

Can the Commission state:

(cid:129) whether, during the negotiations in progress between the Community and the Republic of Slovenia
with a view to an association agreement with the latter, an item has been placed on the agenda
requiring the removal from the Slovenian legal system of all discrimination against European citizens
in the implementation of the procedure governing the restitution,
in kind or equivalent, of real
property expropriated by the Yugoslavian Communist regime?

(cid:129) if this issue is already the subject of negotiations, what stage has been reached in those negotiations?