Energy and Climate Law

The European Commission has approved the acquisition by RWE of E.ON's renewable and nuclear electricity generation assets under the EU Merger Regulation . The Commission concluded that the transaction would raise no competition concerns in the European Economic Area. Both companies announced plans to re-structure the German electricity market in early 2018, as reported earlier on this blog. The transaction was notified to the Commission on 22 January 2019 and partly approved yesterday. However, this approval only applies to the assets that RWE is purchasing from Eon. The part that of the deal raising more competition law issues is the transfer of assets to Eon. This part of the deal is being assessed separately by the Commission and is still under review .

The European Council was scheduled to vote today in favour of planned amendments to the EU Gas Directive, that would effectively target the Nord Stream 2 project. While countries like Germany, but also the Netherlands and Cyprus pledged to vote against the amendments proposed by the Commission, France, in a surprise last-minute U-turn, pledged to vote in favour of the amendments. Last night, however, France and Germany reached a compromise on the issue. We take a look at the legislative history, as well as providing a legal analysis of events and discuss the legal ramifications of today´s important decision.