Third Party Access and Network Unbundling in the European gas market - Is it enough to foster competition?

The European gas market has changed substantially in the last 10 years mainly due to the liberalization process started in the 1990s and guided by the European Commission. At the core of this process, two crucial conditions are necessary for its success: the so-called third party access principle (TPA) and the unbundling of the network. It is therefore paramount to fully understand these two concepts and how they developed to understand the liberalization process itself. The book will be focused firstly on the legal basis and rationale sustaining both third party access and unbundling. In addition, it will analyze the reactions of commercial actors and member states to the liberalization, the industrial strategies that they have implemented (new forms of integration and concentration in the market, protection of “national champions”), and if the market is effectively open to competition in the European Union. Finally,the book will analyze the latest legislative measures approved in the area of TPA and unbundling and the additional measures needed to increase competition in the market (capacity and congestion management rules, M&A policy, gas release programs, etc...)