EU says goal to liberalize energy market faces problems

The European Union took legal action against 17 member states including the Czech Republic on Tuesday for failing to follow EU rules that aim to open the 25-nation bloc's gas and electricity markets to more competition. The EU is trying to create a better integrated gas and electricity market so consumers around the bloc can have more freedom to choose what company supplies their energy needs. But problems among member states when transposing the EU rules into national law were hurting those goals, it said.