Deep in an Alpine forest a tree falls on to a power cable, plunging Italy into darkness. On the windswept Belgian coast a metre-wide carbon steel pipeline conveying gas across the North Sea operates at half its capacity, even though businesses and consumers at the other end in Britain are crying out for supplies.

Portents of a looming energy crisis in Europe have been there for some time, had the politicians chosen to see them ? from the national power blackouts in Italy in September 2003 to soaring gas prices in Britain at the onset of winter last year.