Moreover, policy options other than those of the Green Paper are absent from the responses presented in the questionnaire.

• A major example is that, at no point, does the questionnaire offer a return to centralised forms of control of the sector, whether on a regional, national or pan-European basis. Public financing of the sector is not contemplated. Neither is any explicit public policy to favor some technological choices over others. Alternatively, the option of a decentralised sector with serious limitation on the size of actors is also ignored. All these options may not be the Commission's preference, but a neutral questionnaire should acknowledge that they exist and are backed by significant constituencies, and should allow people to express their preference for such alternatives.

• at no point does the questionnaire allow respondents to express a preference for demand reduction mechanisms (whether directed through taxes or quotas, or incited via education or "good practice").

•  similarly, transport and land occupancy policies, despite their evident impact on energy use patterns, are not even evoked.

Entire questions offer a narrowly-focussed range of responses that evacuate essential items. An example is Question 2, concerning the development of a single European grid, in which the only options proposed concern management rules, no mention being made of planning, financial, construction, and environmental issues which must inevitably be faced in the creation of a single grid.