German restructuring in focus at the Vattenfall Symposium in Berlin

German restructuring in focus at the Vattenfall Symposium in Berlin "It required a foreign investor like Vattenfall to form a new competitive grouping on the German electricity market," said German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder in his opening address at the Vattenfall Symposium in Berlin on Wednesday. Gerhard Schröder said that Germany is proud of its open electricity market and welcomed a foreign player like Vattenfall. He congratulated the company on the success it has achieved in its work on joining the four companies Bewag, HEW, Veag and Laubag into a new entity, Vattenfall Europe. The annual Vattenfall Symposium, the first to be arranged outside Sweden, attracted nearly 400 participants, this time mainly customers and other players on the German electricity and heat market. Vattenfall's President and CEO Lars G Josefsson said in his speech that Vattenfall's objective is to be a leading European energy company, number one for the environment, for the customer and for the economy. But he also stated that fossil fuels such as brown coal and pit coal will play a central role in the energy balance in Germany and Poland in the foreseeable future. "In Vattenfall we believe in the market and in competition. Companies are shaped by their market. For a forward-looking company, it is an advantage to have one's base on markets where there is full competition. An energy company that does not work with fossil fuels can hardly be one of the leaders," he said. Klaus Rauscher, President of Vattenfall Europe, gave an account of the work on merging the German companies into the Group, and of the situation on the German electricity and heat market. He emphasised the importance of customer confidence and of active work to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases. At the same time, he described the EU Commission's proposal on emissions trading, which he characterised as inadequate. Issued by Vattenfall's Press Office, tel: 08-739 50 10. For further information, please contact: Karl-Erik Olsson, Press Manager, 0705-388 138 ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by Waymaker http://www.waymaker.net The following files are available for download: http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2002/05/22/20020522BIT01110/wkr0001.doc http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2002/05/22/20020522BIT01110/wkr0002.pdf