EU Energy Goals Appear Stuck In The Pipeline
23/4/2009
The European Union repeatedly emphasized unity in the wake of vows at a major meeting late last year to pursue a new energy policy.
Pledges of solidarity to develop a unified energy grid and an end to dependence on Russian gas were renewed again in January, when member states found themselves frantically meeting again when a Russia-Ukraine dispute disrupted natural-gas supplies to a freezing Central and Southeastern Europe.
There has been broad agreement on the need for a diversification of suppliers and new import routes. But divisions quickly emerge when the topic turns to specific projects, and critics suggest national and private interests threaten to eclipse the exigencies of the EU as a whole.
The fate of the Nabucco gas-pipeline project is arguably a case in point.
