BELGIUM: Leaders say European Union must unite to face global energy scramble

An unprincipled global scramble for energy resources may replace battles for territory of the past and Europe must forge a united policy or face being left behind by rivals, the EU's foreign policy chief said on Monday (November 20). Javier Solana also warned at a conference in Brussels on energy supply security that Europe's energy needs could well limit its ability to push foreign policy objectives such as conflict resolution, human rights and good governance. "The scramble for territory of the past may be replaced today by the scramble for energy. We have to take our energy from where we find it, although energy markets are increasingly global, much of the world's gas and oil reserves are in unstable and often undemocratic parts of the world," said Solana. "However we choose to deal with such regimes, others will put the energy needs above anything else. The scramble for energy risks being pretty unprincipled. That is likely to make it more difficult to secure support from key partners for our wider foreign policy objective," he added. Solana cited the crisis in Darfur and the situation in Myanmar as examples of where it had proven difficult to secure support from key countries for EU policy objectives, given the importance of energy resources to states like China and India. Solana said most of the major issues before the U.N. Security Council had an important energy dimension, yet too often EU states had ended up divided on energy policy or defending a position that was the lowest common denominator. "That has to change. Let us be clear, if we are not able to launch a unified and substantive position to these issues partners will run rings around us. It has already come pretty close to that on some occasions," said Solana. The 25-nation EU, which expands to 27 countries in January, has struggled to form a common energy policy even as its dependence on foreign sources of fuel has grown, with EU governments reluctant to cede energy authority to Brussels. The EU gets 50 percent of its energy from third countries and that dependency is projected to grow to 70 percent by 2020. The bloc was rattled by a brief cut in supplies of Russian gas last January and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told the conference power cuts experienced in Europe this month showed the bloc's vulnerability. "When the lights went out across Europe two weekends ago, our energy dependence as Europeans was laid bare for all to see. In a way, we can say that it was an illuminating event. In a flash, greater integration ceased to be some abstract ideal, for millions of our citizens it became a necessity," Barroso said. Barroso pointed out that the time to change is now that the EU has leverage as a major customer. "The facts are changing and we in the European Union must change our policies to fit these facts. In doing so we must recognise the enormous energy presence of European Union, the European Union is the largest importer and second largest consumer of energy in the world," said Barroso. However, how far major powers such as Germany, Britain and Italy are prepared to cede power to Brussels to negotiate with energy suppliers, and accept binding targets for energy efficiency and use of renewable fuels, remains to be seen. An EU summit next March will determine how far member states are willing to pool their energy policies. The Brussels conference comes ahead of an EU summit with Russia in Helsinki on Friday (November 24) at which the EU will attempt to rebalance its energy relationship with its key supplier. Despite strong EU pressure, Moscow is refusing to ratify an Energy Charter Treaty which would force it to break up Gazprom's monopoly of gas supplies and transit, opening its pipelines to third party traffic. Russia, for its part, is demanding greater freedom for its giant energy companies to invest in downstream firms in the EU.

ITN Source | November 21, 2006

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