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European Council: 23-24 March 2006

My Lords, we have an obligation to speak up vigorously. We have been given something of a lead by Senhor Barroso, who said:"““We do not need any national champions, what we need are world champions based in Europe””." That is an argument that we could all carry from here to all those who need to hear it, who are trying to place restrictions on access to their markets or operation in their markets. That is an obligation on the Commission. We share the view that the Commission has a crucial role. It will be of the greatest importance that the Energy Charter is ratified by Russia—I agree with the point made by the noble Lord. Although we have seen the Russian Federation denying gas supplies to one of its neighbours, generally speaking, the supply through the rest of Europe has been very reliable. That is a matter of fact. The response to the one occasion on which the Russian Federation interrupted the gas supply from everyone else in the gas market suggested that that was not a wise step to have taken. It created a considerable storm. That itself is now due to be a feature of the G8 conference this year.