EU energy claim dismissed as `nonsense'

THE UK Independence Party, which wants Britain to quit the European Union, today claimed that Britain's North Sea oil and gas reserves may have to be handed over to Brussels.

Graham Dines

THE UK Independence Party, which wants Britain to quit the European Union, today claimed that Britain's North Sea oil and gas reserves may have to be handed over to Brussels.

Jos� Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, has told the 27 nations of the EU that it was necessary to have a “mutualisation of energy stocks,” which UKIP leader Nigel Farage claimed would turn them an EU resource rather than remaining under British control.

Powers for the energy grab, said Mr Barroso, were contained in the Lisbon Treaty, the document which replaced the failed Europe Constitution.

Mr Farage: “Brussels has already stolen our fish. Now they want our oil and gas. These are vital resources to Britain and we demand that the British Government vetoes these proposals. This shows how vital it is that the UK holds a referendum on our future in the European Union.

“This is just another example of how the EU works. No one in Britain has been asked if we'd like to give up one of our natural assets but under cover of an obscure treaty provision Brussels is simply going to take it. This is why the treaties are so complex, so that no one understands what powers are being taken from us until it is too late.”

A spokesman for the London office of the Commission described the UKIP claim as “nonsense.” She added: “It is never going to happen and the British government also confirmed this.”