EU leaders agree to work on common European energy policy ideas

Brussels (Platts)--28Oct2005

European Union leaders have agreed to do more work together in the energy
sector, UK Prime Minister Tony Blair told reporters at an informal EU summit  
in Hampton Court near London Thursday. "There was an agreement to take forward
work in the energy sector, including how we try to establish a common European
grid," said Blair, as president in office of the EU Council of member state  
governments. 
     Energy, like research and development, was an area where there was broad
agreement that the European institutions--the European Commission, EU Council
and European Parliament--had to do more, he said. "It is important that energy
policy is something that we work on together as an EU," said Blair, citing
rising import dependency for oil and gas.  
     The leaders also broadly agreed with the EC's proposals for future EU
economic and social policy, which included a call for a long term and coherent
energy policy, encompassing energy use, secure and diverse supplies, and links
to other policies such as research, agriculture and the environment. 
     EC President Jose Manuel Barroso told reporters he thought citizens
wanted to see EU leaders focussed on getting results in specific areas, such
as a common approach to energy, and how the EU could boost research and
innovation so that it can be competitive globally. The aim is provide outlines
of the energy sector and R&D work at the formal EU summit in December, and
conclusions at the March 2006 summit.  
     The UK had always opposed until now the idea of a common European energy 
policy because it feared the EC would regulate North Sea oil and gas, Blair  
said. "If that was a European common energy policy, it wouldn't be worth 
having." However, a common policy which improved the competitiveness and 
efficiency of European business, reduced prices for consumers and helped to 
achieve the best interconnection of the European energy grids--"that is  
absolutely the type of thing that we should be looking at," said Blair. "If  
you take into account the fact that we are going to import such huge amounts  
of our energy, it matters, doesn't it, how and on what terms we do that," he  
said. "And for Europe to have some common ideas on that, it seems to me 
sensible." 
     A common energy policy could also explore common issues in nuclear 
research, science and technology for those member states that either have or  
may have an interest in nuclear power, he said. 
---Siobhan_Hall@Platts.com

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