Eight countries from around the Baltic Sea today agreed to link up their energy markets in a bid to make them less dependent on outside suppliers such as Russia, according to dpa. The prime ministers of European Union member states Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Lithuania, Latvia, Sweden and Poland signed an agreement launching a series of projects at a dinner in Brussels with the head of the EU's executive, Jose Manuel Barroso, a statement from the European Commission said. The EU is keen to make its energy markets more competitive and secure by increasing links between member states. That is especially true in the Baltic region, where Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have almost no electricity or gas ties to the West. The agreement signed on Wednesday launches a series of projects to improve energy links in three main areas: between the Nordic states; from the Baltic states to Sweden, Finland and Poland; and between Poland and Germany. It also calls for more efforts to build alternative natural-gas supplies, especially liquefied natural-gas terminals, which do not rely on gas from a single source. The question of energy security has climbed to the top of the EU's agenda since January, when a row between Russia and Ukraine over gas bills led to large-scale supply cuts across much of Europe. On Thursday, EU gas experts are set to hold talks with the gas monopolies of Ukraine and Russia, amid fears that Ukraine might be about to default on further bills, sparking a new crisis. EU leaders are due to debate the issue at a summit in Brussels on Friday.
