Ramiro Cibrian, an EU representative, said that the EU hopes that the Czech Cabinet will not include the transmission business (a monopoly, currently operated by CEZ via its 100%-owned subsidiary CEPS) in energy-sector privatization here. The EU expressed the same concern as the Czech Anti-Monopoly Office, which recently warned the Cabinet that the joint privatization of CEZ, CEPS and six regional distributors would reduce competition in the domestic sector. Negative; the stock is more sensitive to the Anti-Monopoly Office statements, though.
Mr. Cibrian also said that the Melk agreement, a bilateral Czech-Austrian safety assessment of CEZ’s Temelin nuclear power plant, should not be subject to any agreement related to the Czech Republic’s accession to the EU (Czech Press Agency). This supports the view of the Czech side, and suggests that Austria has not a strong backing for its anti-Temelin campaign in the EU. Positive.
(Jiri Soustruznik)