German and British leaders said Friday in Berlin that the European Union needed a joint energy policy to ensure the security of supplies.

"We cannot go on living day-to-day. We need a long-term strategy," said German Chancellor Angela Merkel at a joint news conference with visiting British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

She said that the 25 members of the EU need to create an energy plan for the coming 15 years, vowing to make this a top priority at an EU summit in Brussels next month.

She urged EU leaders to discuss questions such as how much energy would the bloc need over the coming 15 years, how can it be supplied, which sources of energy should be given priority.

She said that the recent Russian natural gas cut-offs to Ukraine and Georgia were a further reason for the EU to adopt common policies to deal with global energy suppliers.

Blair told the news conference that a joint EU policy was needed because the bloc's electricity grid was inter-connected.

"Energy is now one the hot political issues. It makes perfect sense for the EU to come up with a common energy policy," he said.

"There is the question of how Europe comes together and uses its collective power in negotiating with the outside world in respect (to) energy," Blair said.

Source: Xinhua