Europe must end energy dependence on Russia: ex-IEA chief

0 Comments | AFP, July, 2008

PARIS (AFP) — The European Union should free itself from its dependence on Russian gas by developing renewable and nuclear energy, the former head of the International Energy Agency told EU ministers Saturday.

"We need to give ourselves a flexibility that we are missing," Claude Mandil told the European bloc's 27 energy ministers at an informal meeting on the outskirts of Paris.

"We need more energy efficiency, more liquefied natural gas, more renewable energy, more nuclear energy," he told the ministers, who are wrapping up a three-day gathering that also included environmental ministers during the first two days.

Mandil, a French official who headed the IEA from 2003 to 2007, also said European nations had got themselves into an "awkward position"...