Barroso warns against using energy as political weapon

The European Union currently imports 53 percent of the energy it consumes and is dependent on external suppliers for crude oil; almost 90 percent, President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso told an energy conference this evening. He noted that some EU countries are particularly vulnerable, namely the ones in the Baltic and Eastern Europe. "Six of our Member States depend on Russia as single supplier for their entire gas imports and three of them use natural gas for more than a quarter of their total energy needs. "Our external energy bill today represents more than EUR one billion per day and more than a fifth of total European imports," he told the one-day conference titled 'Paving the way for a European Energy Security Strategy'. "At the same time, dependency is a two-way street. It ties both suppliers and customers alike. Russia exports 80 percent of its oil and more than 70 percent of its gas to the EU - by far the most attractive market for Russia. "Its revenues from this trade are key for the Russian budget. That is why we have stressed very firmly over the last months that energy must not be abused as a political weapon. Doing so would only backfire on those who try it," he said. Barroso noted that diversifying external energy supplies is also vital. At EU level, external gas supplies are more diversified today than they were a decade ago, mainly due to new liquefied natural gas producers and to the rapid development of LNG regasification capacities in Europe. "And to our international partners we say: the EU remains the world's largest energy market. It remains a transparent, reliable and responsible partner. Therefore, we have a shared interest in preserving transparency, reliability and responsibility for the sake of our energy cooperation, but also for the sake of a predictable and rules based world," he concluded