Annotation of the Judgment of the Court of Justice of 22 October 2013 in Joined Cases C-105/12, C-106/12, C-107/12, Essent a. o. Reference for a preliminary ruling under Article 267 TFEU, from the Hoge Raad der Nederlanden (Netherlands), in the proceedings Staat der Nederlanden v Essent NV (C-105/12), Essent Nederland BV (C-105/12), Eneco Holding NV (C-106/12), Delta NV (C-107/12).

The importance of the present preliminary ruling is the interpretation of the Article 345 TFEU within the context of one of the four freedoms of the Treaty, the free movement of capital, regarding the historically centralized energy systems. According to the Court’s interpretation, although the Member State has legitimately established, in the sector of electricity or gas distribution system operators active in its territory, a body of rules relating to public ownership covered by Article 345 TFEU, this fact does not mean that that Member State is free to disregard, in that sector, the rules relating to the free movement of capital (§ 37).