ELECTRICITY MARKET INTEGRATION

Europe is preparing for a third wave of leg- islation to further reform electricity markets. The energy sector inquiry conducted in preparation of this third en- ergy package concluded that there is lack of market inte- gration. Even though this is true, it is important to put this in perspective. For the moment, electricity markets in Europe are indeed not the most harmonized or fine-tuned of the world. However, in some regions promising initia- tives have already been launched and even when only integrated regionally, these markets will be the largest in the world, which indicates how ambitious the target of a single electricity market for Europe really is.