EU Push For More Energy Cooperation

(AP)  European leaders must drop their 25 different and uncoordinated energy policies and repudiate "any kind of nationalism" in the energy sector, EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said Wednesday.

He also said the EU should aim to have half of its energy supply from "secure low-carbon sources" — such as natural gas, clean coal, renewables or nuclear — within 20 years, and urged Europe to form an energy pact with Russia.

Barroso said he will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin later this month to discuss stepping up the EU-Russian energy partnership — just two months after Russia's dispute with its neighbor Ukraine temporarily cut gas supplies to Europe.

"We must respond better to sharp emergency oil and gas shocks," he said as the EU also floated the idea of stocking up on natural gas.

Recent energy mergers were signs that companies see the importance of a single European market, Barroso said.

"What's happening in Europe is that it's the birth pangs of the single market," he said, citing $140 billion in utility mergers and acquisitions launched in the first two months of 2006.

In a swipe at recent moves by the French and Spanish governments to protect homegrown energy companies, he said Europe should refuse "any kind of nationalism" in the energy sector.

"People say energy is a strategic sector but should it be national or European? That is the question," he asked.

"If you can have cooperation between member states in terms of military cooperation and defense, why can you not have European cooperation in energy ... why can't you have major European firms in terms of energy?"

"We know open markets benefit consumers," Barroso said. "We have to say consolidation 'yes,' but consolidation with competition."

A strong internal market was crucial for making strategic decisions with foreign energy suppliers at the European level, he said.

Barroso insisted that no energy options — including nuclear — should be ruled out: "There should be no taboos in this debate."

"Europe needs to set a framework for different low carbon energies to develop," he said. "We do not intend to interfere with the right of a member state to decide its energy mix," he said.

Thirteen EU countries generate electricity from atomic power. Germany and Sweden have promised to phase out nuclear power, but France, Britain and others are considering building a new generation of nuclear power plants.

Europe now has the political will it lacked before to make progress on a single energy push, he said. "I think today there is a great feeling of urgency about this."