Moldova and Ukraine intend to join the South-Eastern European energy market, which proves that the regional solidarity is a better and more convincing solution than acting separately, Romanian President Traian Basescu said on Sunday during a summit on energy matters, held in Zagreb. Basescu said that this way, Moldova and Ukraine move towards accomplishing their goal of European integration. The Romanian President mentioned that Romania is ready to join a future energy system in the Balkans. “This action is possible considering that in September 2007 Romania will start running a new nuclear reactor, and another two will be set up by late 2012”. Basescu pointed out that Romania will never accept the idea of using the energy as a method of political pressure. The energy security of the region and of Europe in general depends upon the manner the countries in this region will promote the cooperation with the big energy suppliers, based on principles of fair competition, Basescu said. On the other hand, at the same summit, Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his support for a stronger reliance between Russia and the Balkan countries in the perspective of some joint energy projects. He said that the Russian company “Gazprom” is the “main company” cooperating with the Balkan countries, which not only supplies these countries with gas, but also participates in developing their infrastructures. In order to meet its energy needs, the European Union imports more than 40% of natural gas. Almost a half of this volume comes from Russia, while several European states are entirely depending on Russia in what concerns gas supply.