European Union leaders have backed the idea of a common energy policy for the bloc even as rows over cross-border utility takeover bids raged in the background.
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Seeking to show voters that the bloc can advance on practical issues after last year's defeat of an EU Constitution, the 25 leaders approved the outline of a common energy strategy put forward by the commission.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso hailed the decision as a landmark for the EU, even though it will take years to turn the broad principles into practical reality.
"I think one day when you (write) the history of European integration, we will say energy policy for Europe was born on March 23rd and 24th, 2006," Mr Barroso said after the summit.
Rebutting sceptics who say his plan will fall foul of governments who jealously guard national sovereignty over energy, Mr Barroso said the leaders supported 20 concrete measures proposed by the Commission.
Against a backdrop of rising import dependence, surging oil prices and climate change, the plan gained urgency when Russia cut supplies to Ukraine in a price dispute in January, briefly choking supplies to EU countries.
It suggests new rules for storing gas and oil stocks, moves to increase energy efficiency, bolder targets for renewable energy and biofuels, and a common energy policy for dealing with foreign suppliers.
The summit did rule out the idea of a single European energy regulator and stressed that countries' energy mix would remain a national choice, Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel, who chaired the talks, said.
The EU leaders agreed other measures that seek to make the bloc more competitive against the United States and other economies, including a reform intended to make it easier for service companies to operate in other EU countries.
But in another sign of how deep "economic nationalism" runs in some EU states, they opted for a watered-down version of the legislation that emerged from the European Parliament to allay fears that east Europeans would take jobs in the West.
Key members of the EU remained at odds over multi-billion-euro takeover deals that have tested whether the bloc really can be a single, open market.
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero met privately with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who urged leaders to "accept European champions and not just think nationally". That appeared to a warning to Madrid not to block German utility E.ON's bid for Endesa of Spain.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been frustrated by a planned €70 billion merger of French power companies Gaz de France and Suez that could shut out Italy's Enel from a possible bid for Suez or some of its assets.
The European Commission is studying whether France and Spain have breached EU law by blocking foreign bids.