The European Commission condemned oil prices Tuesday as "unacceptable" for importing nations and the world economy, and said it will seek a common European front to combat them, a spokesman said.
The commission believes the current oil price, which hit a 10-year high point on Monday, "is at an unacceptable level not only for the importer countries ... but also for the entire world economy", said a spokesman for the energy commissioner, Loyola de Palacio.
The commission intends "to launch a debate" on the oil prices and wants "a common action by the European states," he said, adding that De Palacio would present a report on the oil price situation to commissioners Wednesday.
The European Union's call for action marks an escalation of protest in the rapidly mounting crisis in Europe over high oil prices.
However, in Biarritz, southwest France, EU officials said that the EU Commission would examine measures by the French government to give financial help to French fishermen to compensate for some of the effects of the increase of the oil price to see if they breached competition rules.
Earlier on Tuesday French Transport Minister Jean-Claude Gayssot bluntly urged concerted EU pressure on the 11-nation Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to lower oil prices, as protesters blockaded refineries in a bid to force tax cuts on fuel.
"It seems to me that Europe, including the European Central Bank, should express its determination to hold talks with the OPEC countries and tell them 'you cannot do just anything'," Gayssot said in a radio interview.
And a spokeswoman for the French foreign ministry, Anne Gazeau-Secret, said that the current level of oil prices and their "worrisome" volatility.
She said: "We attach a great deal of importance to the stability of oil prices, which is necessary for producer countries as well as for consumer countries." BRUSSELS (AFP) -
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