The XXII° European Congress of the UEF met in Paris, 10-12 October 2008

Recalling that the Lisbon Treaty, for the first time, in the area of energy provides for

- a solidarity clause;

- shared competence between the Union and the Member States;

as well as a Union policy on energy aiming to:

- ensure security of energy supply in the Union;

- promote the interconnection of energy networks;

that, in this area,

- the European Parliament and the Council can establish the measures necessary to achieve these objectives acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure;

and that

- European Union is born with the Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) setting up an industrial policy in coal and steel industry;

- ECSC raised resources to finance investment in this industry through taxation and the emission of Union bonds;

Considering that

- after two wars in the Middle East, tensions with Iran, the war in Georgia, increases in oil prices;

and

- with the increasing dependence from international supply of energy, not only for Europe, but also for United States, China and India, energy is one the main problems for next decades;

that

- energy sector could be the one where a vigorous European industrial policy could promote a sustainable economic development, an increase in employment and, above all, a policy applying for the whole world;

Calls for dissolution of EURATOM and the subsequent creation of a European Energy Community or alternatively a European Energy Agency with competences extended to oil, natural gas and renewable energy resources which is able, inter alia, to:

- attain the “20-20-20” goals on energy production by 2020;

- increase the EU’s bargaining power toward oil and natural gas producers and;

- support the creation of a world energy and environmental community of states sharing the main principles of democratic, social and environmental standards, on the model of the ECSC