Rome and Paris moved a step closer to ending a long-standing energy row, after the Italian government announced its to lift a cap on French electricity giant EDF’s voting rights in its second largest power firm.

The two nations had been working hard to agree on a deal aimed at opening up protected power markets by unlocking EDF’s voting rights in exchange for allowing Italy’s biggest utility ENEL to enter France. EDF had threatened to pull out of Italy if Rome refused to lift a two percent freeze on its voting rights in Italenergia Bis, a holding company controlling 62 pct of Edison. In two thousand and one – Rome passed a law limiting EDF’s voting rights because Italian investors were locked out of the French energy market.

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