mr president there are enormous savings to be had by the creation of a common european grid
somewhere in europe at any given moment there is surplus electricity and breaking down national barriers will substantially reduce our dependence on imported energy sources
unfortunately though that kind of model of integration a free-market decentralised organic one is not what we have been voting on in our series of reports today
we are instead going down this road towards harmonisation towards fixed prices towards protection towards a common negotiating position vis-à-vis russia and other third parties
it is a basic ideological difference in the european union between a free market based on mutual product recognition and a harmonised market based on the reduction of consumer choice the protection of producers and the regulation of authority
i think there are particular dangers for a country like britain
we were until two years ago the eu's only net energy producer
even now we are roughly in equilibrium
a common energy policy could end up being for us like the common fisheries policy one where we are the only country putting a substantial amount into the common pot from which all others are then drawing on an equal basis
