European Union to Boost the Energy Sector
The European Commission wants the European Union to spend 4.5 billion Euros (£3.3 billion; $4.6 billion) on projects to encourage energy provisions and expand high-speed internet access.
The funding – unexhausted income from the European Union budget – would include 250m Euros towards building of the Nabucco gas pipeline, which would go around Russia.
The commission says 3.5 billion Euros should go into off-shore wind farms, carbon storage and further developing energy networks.
The funding calls for approval from the European Parliament and governments.
In a statement, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso stated the EU needed “to learn the lessons of the recent gas crisis and invest heavily in energy”.
“We also need to stimulate the European economy by providing information highways in rural communities,” he added.
The extra spending would happen in 2009 and 2010. 
The 1 billion-euro broadband investing would be concentrated on giving rural areas high-velocity internet access. The commission says 30% of the EU’s rural population does not have broadband.
Recently, Central and Southern European leaders voiced firm endorsing for the Nabucco gas pipeline project, which would deliver Central Asian gas to Western Europe via Turkey and the Balkans, bypassing Russia.
Several European Union member states were left critically short of gas earlier this month because of a price conflict between Russia and Ukraine. About 80% of Russian gas exports to Europe go via pipelines across Ukraine.
Officials from several European Union member states, including Italy and Bulgaria, have criticized the commission’s proposals. They questioned the effectiveness of such allocations as governments struggle to cope with the global financial crisis.
Read more about Europe’s Ethanol Market Potential
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