EU's Barroso to seek Putin energy partnership

BRUSSELS, Mar 15 (Reuters) The European Union takes its plans for a common energy policy to Russia on Friday, seeking a new pact with the resource-rich country after a gas crisis with Ukraine sparked worries about its reliability as a key supplier.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday evening to present the EU executive's proposals, which aim to create a common voice on energy issues among the bloc's 25 member states.

Despite Russia's good record as a supplier over decades, the dispute with Ukraine early this year that led to a sudden cut in supplies spooked Europe and raised fears that the former Soviet giant saw energy as a weapon to wield for political gain.

''The crisis in January was the first real physical interruption of supply, but that sent a message that caused concern to the markets and to some member states,'' said Ferran Tarradellas Espuny, spokesman for Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs, who was in Moscow for talks on Wednesday.

The Barroso-Putin talks will also cover how to handle Iran's nuclear ambitions and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as well as preparations for an EU-Russia summit in May and a Group of Eight industrial powers' summit in July, another EU official said, describing energy as ''one issue among others.'' In its consultation paper on security of energy supply, the EU executive calls for a new partnership with Russia, which provides a quarter of the bloc's gas and is expected to be an even more important supplier in the future.

EU AIMS A draft statement entitled ''Energy Policy for Europe'', due to be adopted at an EU summit next week, calls for a more open and effective energy dialogue with Russia.

The document, obtained by Reuters, speaks of ''the need for secure and predictable investment conditions for both EU and Russian companies, and reciprocity in terms of access to markets and infrastructure as well as non-discriminatory third party access to pipelines in Russia.'' Tarradellas Espuny said he could not predict what Barroso would discuss with Putin, but he laid out several issues that the EU would like to see as part of a longer-term dialogue between the two sides.

First, the EU is keen to get Russian ratification for an Energy Charter Treaty, which would govern energy activity on the Eurasian continent.

Second, the bloc would like to see better competition in the energy market in all areas, including upstream, downstream and transport, he said.

''That means that there should be a progressive opening up of the domestic market to competition and that would include non-discriminatory access to the pipeline network in combination with the opening up of the export network,'' he said.

Third, the EU wants predictable taxation rules and a clear regulatory framework to make conditions for investors clear, notably in light of the Russian authorities' legal action against the fallen oil giant YUKOS .

Finally, the bloc would like to discuss climate change and cooperation in energy efficiency with Moscow.

Energy policy has made it to the top of the EU agenda as the 25-nation bloc attempts to formulate a common voice on a subject long held sacrosanct by national governments.

Diplomats said that in preparatory discussions for the G8 summit which it will host for the first time in St Petersburg, Moscow was focusing on long-term supply contracts rather than market opening in its approach to energy security.

REUTERS OM RN2346