Some Emerging European States Need to Do More to Liberalise Energy Markets

collected by :Victor Alphen

An effective unbundling will diversify the energy market. This is not merely related to EU countries, as the integration of the Balkans into a single European energy system is one of the priorities of the EU. Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia, Macedonia, Albania and Kosovo have all been part of the so-called Energy Community since 2006, with the main goal of creating an integrated European-Trans Balkan energy market. "As regards Energy Community countries, the commission represents the European Union in the secretariat and participates in the monitoring and assessing of the progress of the transposition of Third Energy Package legislation in the countries party to the community," Ms Itkonen says. As a result, these countries continue to keep their energy markets closed, as opposed to opening themselves up to increased integration with the European Union, harming competition and potential investment.

Dynamic Diplomacy Vital to Dominate Energy Markets

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London Covered in Snow as Cold Snap Makes Energy Markets Shiver

As it stated in U.K. gas prices doubled to the highest in more than a decade in a bitter weather front that has killed at least 24 people throughout Europe and covered Mediterranean beaches with snow. "Cold weather, tight storage and supply issues combined to drive up gas prices in Britain and across Europe," Enappsys Ltd., an energy trading consultant in Stockton-on-Tees, England, said in an emailed note. Average temperatures in the U.K. are forecast at minus 3.3 Celsius on Wednesday, about 8 degrees below seasonal norms. Flows from Norway have been reduced due to an outage at a key processing plant, while heavy snow at a U.K. gas terminal is preventing pipeline imports from the Netherlands. Average temperatures in Germany are forecast at minus 7.1 Celsius, about 9 degrees below seasonal norms.