The European Union must tighten cooperation with Ukraine and prepare a common energy policy - stressed Polish and Ukrainian presidents as well as Czech PM Mirek Topolanek after their meeting in Wroclaw, south-eastern Poland. Energy policy of the bloc is also to be the dominating topic of the EU summit on March 23.
 
The meeting came a week after the end of a row between Kiev and Moscow which had cut off all Russian gas supplies to Europe through Ukraine. The row ended in the signing of a 10-year contract between the Russian and Ukrainian gas monopolies  brokered by Ukrainian PM Yulia Tymoshenko and her Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.

While in Wrocław President Lech Kaczynski said there is a need for more actions on both EU's and Ukraine's part to prevent such a dispute in the future. The Ukrainian president Victor Yuschenko visited Poland on his way back from Brussels, where he had held talks with the president of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso. It was his second visit to this country to discuss the topic of gas deliveries in two weeks. While in Wrocław he stressed that  the issue is economic and not a political one in nature. On his part Czech PM Mirek Topolanek assured that as the holder of EU presidency his country will pay attention to the necessity of integrating Ukraine with the EU and the need to prepare a common energy policy for the bloc. He also stressed that finding a solution to the energy crisis would be  real test of the European integration.

The "Eastern Three" gas talks coincided with the announcement that  Poland will join the planned Nabucco gas pipeline in an attempt to diversify gas supplies.

Click on the audio icon to listen to the report by Danuta Isler.