German Chancellor Angela Merkel has suggested the construction of a European gas pipeline network to help guarantee the union's energy security.
In an interview with the Polish centre-right daily Rzeczpospolita, she was admant the bloc needs to ensure that a network of gas pipelines is created, working along the same lines as the energy grid, which channels electricity between European countries.
Merkel also raised the issue of a proposed pipeline linking Poland to the planned German gas terminal at Wilhelmshafen, on the North Sea, but Warsaw has rejected the idea.
Poland has also refused to participate in a project by German firms BASF and E.ON and Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom to build a pipeline under the Baltic Sea.
The pipeline is set to become operational in 2010.