If European Union ministers agree a new climate package in Brussels this week that forces utilities to pay for the carbon dioxide they emit, it could spell doom for independent German electricity producers, Jürgen Grossmann, chief executive of RWE, likes to argue.

He says the full auctioning of carbon permits will hand RWE's rival EDF a €40bn ($51bn) competitive advantage, allowing the French company to go on a buying spree in Germany.