EU To Steal Britain's Gas ?

BRITAIN’S vital North Sea oil and gas supplies are to be taken over by Europe under emergency plans revealed for the first time in Brussels yesterday. EU leaders are demanding control of British energy reserves to prevent power blackouts that have left millions of eastern Europeans without heat in Arctic weather due to the Russian gas blockade.

Euro-MPs are calling for the creation of a European gas reserve, made up of British and Dutch supplies, which member states can tap into in the event of any future shortage.The transfer of ownership would be enacted under secret powers written into the Lisbon Treaty. It gives Europe the legal power to take over individual states’ supplies to “ensure security of energy supply in the Union”.

Ultimate control over Britain’s vast natural gas and oil fields – by far the biggest resource within the EU – will fall to Brussels if the new treaty, which has already been ratified by Britain, is adopted throughout Europe.

Last night, however, there were calls for Britain to stand firm against the seizure of our oil and gas. UKIP leader Nigel Farage said: “Brussels has already stolen our fish. Now they want our oil and gas. These are vital resources to Britain and we demand that the British Government vetoes these proposals. This shows how vital it is that the UK holds a referendum on our future in the European Union.”

Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague said: “EU Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso is right to say that the EU needs to help eastern Europe with its energy security. But giving the EU control over our national energy reserves is totally the wrong way to go about it.

Syed Kamall, Conservative MEP for London, said: “Conservatives will continue to resist any moves towards EU common energy resources. The Common Fisheries Policy has already decimated our fishing industry. An EU common energy resource policy would do the same to what little is left of our oil reserves.

Russian and Ukrainian officials and energy firm executives were yesterday locked in crisis talks in Brussels in a bid to break the deadlock over blocked supplies that has hit power deliveries to 10 EU countries. Meanwhile, in a closed-door meeting with high-ranking European politicians, Mr Barroso said the current crisis showed the need for urgency in adopting a common EU energy policy. Mr Barroso added that he would soon have the legal auth ority to take over control of energy reserves under the Lisbon Treaty. He said the new powers were necessary because requests to national governments to detail what gas reserves they had available had produced no response.

MEPs also called yesterday for control over Britain’s dwindling natural resources. Austrian Hannes Swoboda and Dutchman Jan Marinus Wiersma said there was an urgent need for a European gas stockpile.Mr Swoboda said: “Some countries are not happy with the idea but it is absolutely necessary.”

Mr Wiersma added the plan would involve stockpiling gas from producer countries such as the UK and the Netherlands to tide over vulner able member states in the face of future crises.