MEPs voted 553 in favour and 103 against (with 27 abstentions) in support of a report drafted by Polish Christian Democrat MEP Jacek Saryusz-Wolski for the Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee.
Parliamentarians are concerned that the "present vulnerability and high energy dependency of the EU on countries with authoritarian regimes" is pushing the EU to undermine its own values in exchange for access to third-country energy supplies, in language widely interpreted as a reference to Russia's natural gas reserves.
"Member states should retain their sovereign right to make strategic choices concerning the energy mix, to exploit their energy resources and to decide on the supply structures," the report states.
But "there is a need to elaborate concrete provisions, to be included in the Treaties, leading to the creation of a common European foreign policy on energy, covering security of supply, transit and investment related to energy security", it argues.
Parliament wants the Commission to elaborate, by the end of 2007, "a precise road map" that would outline the creation of such a policy.
In addition, the EU's co-legislators suggest the creation of a new High Official for Foreign Energy Policy who would act as a policy co-ordinator under the authority of High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Javier Solana.
The report also endorses the Commission's argument that a completed (and liberalised) EU internal energy market "could serve as a basis for constructive policies with external EU energy partners".
