Energy

The long-running skirmishes between the EU and the French government have again been making the news, with Brussels arguably coming out on top in the latest tussles.
The EU's uncompromising competition supremo Neelie Kroes may well have been heartened by comments from French interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy, who has told Le Monde newspaper that there are serious doubts emerging about the viability of the contentious Suez-Gaz de France merger. Mr Sarkozy told the paper that vital deadlines for the merger-cum-privatization could be missed because both the president and prime minister 'are scared to move on a single issue'. The deal has been roundly criticized by other member states as a protectionist move orchestrated by Paris to create a French energy champion.
Then, to add insult to injury, the European Commission announced that it is to investigate issues of illegal subsidy and excessive payments in the country's savings market. Ms Kroes feels that the French state may have breached EU policy in its dealings with three mutual lenders that are allowed to offer the popular 'livret A' and 'livret bleu' savings accounts.
Taken together then, the EU could be seen as striking a welcome blow for open borders and free trade this week. However a more serious test of the state of Europe's free market ideals would come if Russian energy behemoth Gazprom mounts a bid for UK gas player Centrica - not such a remote possibility if remarks made by Gazprom's top brass at a conference this week are anything to go by.