Daily Express twigs EU plan to purloin Britain's Gas

The report is here. As this blog has repeatedly pointed out under the Lisbon Treaty Britain loses control of its energy policy and therefore its energy reserves. Lisbon has not been ratified so for the moment we do not have to freeze in the dark for the sake of those on the Continent. This happy status will not last for long! Indeed in Britain's bankrupt state economic pressures could soon force that very situation. Some quotes from the Express: 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. 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.

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.

He called for a “mutualisation of energy stocks”, the better use of “EU indigenous energy resources” and said it was vital that member states show “solidarity” with their struggling partners in eastern Europe.

Mr Barroso added that he would soon have the legal authority 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.