ARERA approves GME-CROPEX and GME-Nord Pool Settlement Link Agreements enabling multi-NEMO arrangement in Slovenian market

ARERA deliberation 345/2026/R/eel positively verified two contractual schemes submitted by GME on 7 August 2026: a new Settlement Link Agreement between GME and CROPEX, and a Fourth Amended and Restated Settlement Link Agreement between GME and Nord Pool. These agreements govern clearing and settlement of SDAC, SIDC/IDA and SIDC/CT cross-border transactions following the Slovenian regulator's approval of a multi-NEMO arrangement (MNA) allowing CROPEX and Nord Pool to operate as NEMOs in the Slovenian bidding zone alongside the incumbent.

The decision operationalizes multi-NEMO competition in the Italy-Slovenia market coupling border by establishing the counterparty risk and settlement framework required under CACM Regulation articles 7, 68 and 77(2). It introduces differentiated collateral models (mutual recognition of local guarantee systems for GME-CROPEX vs. reciprocal collateralization for GME-Nord Pool) and formalizes a residual, non-automatic decoupling mechanism limited to the defaulting NEMO, preserving overall SDAC/SIDC integrity while enabling broader NEMO competition in Slovenia.

This deliberation is a narrow but structurally important piece of market-coupling plumbing: it formalizes the bilateral settlement architecture that allows multiple NEMOs (CROPEX, Nord Pool, and implicitly the incumbent Slovenian NEMO) to coexist in the SDAC/SIDC clearing chain for the Italy-Slovenia border. The approval validates asymmetric collateral regimes between GME-CROPEX and GME-Nord Pool, which ARERA justifies as consistent with non-discrimination principles under CACM Art. 7(4) because the differentiation reflects counterparty-specific risk models rather than preferential treatment. This sets a precedent for how NRAs assess fairness in multi-NEMO settlement design when collateral regimes differ by counterparty rather than by rule. The residual decoupling mechanism—confined to the defaulting NEMO and not triggering zone-wide decoupling—reinforces the operational resilience doctrine already embedded in SDAC/SIDC fallback procedures. For market participants, this is largely invisible at the trading level but critical infrastructure for GME's ability to fulfill its NEMO obligations as competition expands in adjacent bidding zones. The event is Italy-Slovenia specific and distinct from the Baltic SDAC/SIDC MNA expansion.

EU Regulation 2015/1222 (CACM) — Articles 4(5), 6(1)(i), 7, 68, 77(2); MCO Plan approved under ARERA deliberation 467/2017/R/eel

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