PARIS, May 21: French group GDF Suez led an attack by eight leading European power companies on the EU energy policy on Tuesday, saying it had “failed” and was destroying parts of the sector.

In what he described as a “solemn appeal”, the chief executive of GDF Suez Gerard Mestrallet told the Le Monde daily in an interview that European leaders had to wake up to the fact that “the energy policy which has been followed until now is a failure.”

He said: “The result is that Europe is in the process of destroying part of its energy industry.

“It is urgent to redefine this policy, the ambitions and the means.” His appeal was supported notably by German energy groups EON and RWE, Eni of Italy, and Iberdrola and GasNatural Fenosa in Spain.—AFP