BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union’s economic crisis took precedence over solidarity at a meeting of energy ministers on Friday, with big economies reluctant to fund a 1 trillion euro ($1.3 trillion) vision for energy infrastructure.

Ministers were meeting for their first discussion of plans by EU energy commissioner Guenther Oettinger for massive investment to bolster energy security and distribute green electricity.

Ministers did, however, give Oettinger a clear mandate to propose new laws to control offshore oil drilling.

“In the case of gas and electricity, we’re back in the nineteenth century -- We’ve got to pump money into this,” Oettinger told ministers before the debate.

Europe’s outlying regions and its poorest member countries said the vision deserved EU funding to make it a reality, but the richer countries that would pick up most of the bill disagreed.

“I do take a critical view of European financing of energy infrastructure,” said Dutch Energy Minister Maxime Verhagen. “It should be the market participants who invest.”

The two biggest contributors to the EU budget, Germany and France, also said financing should come from industry and not EU authorities.

That reaction was in sharp contrast to a deal in September to improve energy links so that member states could help each other in case of a repeat of the gas crisis last January when Russian supplies were cut for 3 weeks.

Targeted EU finance is one of the only tools that might persuade companies to build unprofitable backup networks.

HELP THE MARKET

Slovakia, one of the hardest-hit countries in the 2009 gas crisis, reminded its western neighbors that market forces had so far failed to drive the investments needed for energy security.

“The EU needs to help the market when the market cannot do it for itself,” said Martin Chren of Slovakia’s economy ministry.

Other peripheral European countries took a similar line, including Portugal, Cyprus, Malta, Estonia, Ireland and Lithuania.

“It is important that decisions in support of new infrastructure should take into account the needs of less-favored and island regions in the name of solidarity,” said Maltese minister George Pullicino.

Environmentalists, who are counting on the revamp to boost renewable energy, said Friday’s discussions did not bode well for the EU’s first ever leaders’ summit to discuss energy issues on February 4

“Dealt an empty hand by today’s meeting, European leaders in February look set to collect their air miles for little or nothing in return,” said Jason Anderson of WWF.

“Fixing a long-term integrated vision and plan for energy is vital both for climate protection, economic revitalization and the thousands of new jobs that this includes,” he added.

Ministers gave Oettinger the green light for a raft of new legislation to avoid a repeat of BP’s accident in April in the Gulf of Mexico.

They invited Oettinger’s team to propose new laws to protect the safety of rig workers and the environment “as early as possible in 2011.”

The explosion and fire on BP’s Deepwater Horizon drilling rig killed 11 workers and caused the largest oil spill in U.S. history.