Mr Scaroni suggested the grid plan to Neelie Kroes, EU competition commissioner in a meeting. Ms Kroes’s reactions to the proposed idea are understood to be positive.
According to La Stampa, Mr Scaroni told Ms Kroes that the alternative of unbundling single national networks would prove detrimental to those nations which have gone ahead with liberalization and could open up grids to non-EU bidders.
Snam Rete Gas, E.ON, Gaz de France, Suez and OMV will be part of the new group that would control the grid.
