EU Urged To Unite To Face Global Energy Scramble

Speaking on the first day of a two-day conference on energy security in Brussels, Solana said Europe must forge a united energy policy or face being left behind by rivals.

 
MORE: Click on the image to read about a recent forum on energy security hosted by RFE/RL in Prague.

"The scramble for territory of the past may be replaced today by the scramble for energy," Solana said. "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."

He also warned competition for energy could limit the bloc's ability to push its foreign-policy objectives, such as human rights and good governance. 

The EU also urged Russia and other neighbors to commit to long-term energy contracts that will guarantee them customers and investments while securing affordable oil and natural-gas supplies for the EU in the decades ahead.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso called Russia an important energy partner, but said it is not, and should not be, the EU's only one.

(Reuters, AFP, dpa)