Eastern EU states fear for energy security

Officials from Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania signed a statement sent to the EU late last month.

The CzechRepublic did not sign, however, as the country will assume the EU's rotating presidency in 2009 and does not want to appear biased.

Central and Eastern European countries claim that the tough plans, intended to fight global warming, could lead to an increased dependence on Russian energy supplies.

In order to ameliorate the damage caused by climate change, the EU wants to cut CO2 emissions by a fifth by 2020, compared with 1990 levels. This is a problem for Eastern EU countries such as Poland, which relies heavily on coal for energy. Coal produces more CO2 than natural gas, which Poland largely imports from Russia. Polish authorities fear that strict CO2 limits would force them to increase Russian gas imports.

"The [EU's] climate and energy package will significantly increase the demand for imported natural gas in some member states, enhancing their dependence on external sources of energy," senior officials of the five signatory nations said in a joint statement after talks in Warsaw.

"The European Commission should act ambitiously in the field of secure supplies of energy resources and should propose solutions equally challenging as those proposed in the climate and energy package," they said. (Reuters)