GLG News by Political Experts (EU)

EU Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy announced that he wants to take Germany to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) since in his view, Germany has failed to amend the so-called “VW Law” properly and in line with European legislation. The ECJ held last year that the VW law was in breach of...

Alitalia bondholders face a positive scenario, although the regulatory risk is still high. The new rules issued by the government for the new special administration procedure are brand new, and they are probably going to change in the next 60 days.

1. One of the reasons behind the new draft for the regulation of photovoltaic (PV) solar energy in Spain, which changes dramatically this sector’s regulation, is the significant effect that, the Ministry for Industry argues, the PV feed-in tariff has on the electricity tariff. But this is neither...

1. The merger of British Airways and Iberia makes good common sense for at least five reasons. 2. It could even be the first step towards the largest airline in the world by merging in the future with their partner American Airlines.

1. It seems very unlikely that any last-minute surprise avoids that Gas Natural, finally and after two other attempts in 2003 and 2005, takes over a Spanish electricity company. 2. The next battle is going to be fought in Iberdrola’s court, but it’s going to be very difficult for ACS’ Florentino Pérez...

1. The cap on photovoltaic (PV) power capacity will be based on annual caps with the new regulation, rather than on accumulative power, as with current regulation. 2. Feed-in tariffs are significantly cut by the new regulation, especially for on-the-ground facilities.

Siemens announced that the Supervisory Board has approved recommendations of its law firm to claim damages from executive board members in charge between 2003 and 2006. It will be the first time in German history that a chief executive of a company listed on the German blue-chip stock index DAX has...

Porsche recently purchased shares outright corresponding to a 4.92 % share of VW’s common stock. The European Commission announced the postponement, of its decision in regard to the request submitted by Porsche for approval of its planned shareholding. Meanwhile, in order to ensure that its share of...

The withdrawal of AirFrance-KLM from negotiations on the sale of Alitalia means that the airline is living on borrowed time. The government has extended a €300 million emergency loan to keep the company afloat for a few more months. The question of what happens to one of the...

- potential for "self-sustained" market penetration of renewables limited - trade-off between different policy objectives: liberalised power in Europe markets vs. high market share of renewables