The prime ministers of Spain and Poland, Jose Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, have signed a joint declaration on energy security calling on the EU to take joint measures to protect energy supplies.

"The potential risk deriving from natural disasters, terrorist acts or from the social and political instability in any area of the world where energy supplies come from, clearly show that the European Union, for the moment, lacks the appropriate instruments for protection and reaction", notes the statement, according to the Spanish daily ABC.

Signed in Madrid on Friday (17 March), the statement also said "we need protection for the citizens of the Union and for the member states facing possible disruptions in the energy supplies, sudden price fluctuations and destabilisation of energy markets."

The EU currently imports more than 50 percent of the energy it consumes – this figure runs to over 80% in Spain.