GERMANY'S Chancellor Angela Merkel has called for a European gas pipeline network to help guarantee the EU's energy security. "We need to ensure that a network of gas pipelines is created, working along the same lines as the energy grid, which channels electricity between European countries", Mrs Merkel said. "Overall, it's a question of creating the largest possible number of opportunities for co-operation (in the gas sector) within the European Union," she continued. Mrs Merkel also raised the issue of a proposed pipeline linking Poland to the planned German gas terminal at Wilhelmshafen, on the North Sea. Warsaw has rejected the idea, and the Polish government has also refused to participate in a project by German firms BASF and E.ON, and Gazprom, to build the Nord Stream gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea which is set to become operational in 2010. "I can't do anything about the fact that no-one in Poland is interested in this," Mrs Merkel said Merkel. Poland and the neighbouring Baltic states were angry about being left out of the gas pipeline talks with Russia: they had wanted the pipeline to pass across their territory to ensure that Russia would not apply an energy blockade against them or try to manipulate prices. The 27-nation EU relies heavily on both gas and oil from Russia, and concern increased after Russia halted oil deliveries in January through the Druzhba pipeline, cutting off supplies to five EU countries including Germany and Poland. "Russia should do everything it can to remain a trustworthy partner, something it has been in the energy sector for decades," Mrs Merkel said. The temporary freeze on oil supplies was part of a dispute between Russia and neighbouring Belarus which has now been resolved.