BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - European Union (EU) leaders called on Friday for studies on ways to cut taxes on fuel and ease the pain of more costly oil for consumers.

Europeans pay some of the world's highest gas pump prices to fill up their cars at an average of nine euros ($14) a gallon. About half of that is sales tax and excise duty that fills governments' coffers.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has asked the bloc's 26 other nations to consider jointly slashing the basic rate of sales tax - even though heavy hitters such as Germany, Sweden, the European Commission (EC) and others oppose this because it will not curb consumption.

"Europe must show that on such an issue, which touches everyone's daily life, we have the capacity to act," he told reporters.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel came out clearly against changing the tax rate, saying it could amplify cost differences between EU countries and fails to deal with the underlying problem of surging demand for oil across the world.

"If we want to take people's worries seriously, we must find answers that tackle the source of the problem," she told reporters, saying the issue was the oil price not sales tax.

EU leaders, in a statement agreed on Friday, did not lend their full weight to Mr. Sarkozy's plan - but they did not rule it out either. They said the EU's executive should by October "examine the feasibility of taxation measures to smooth the impact of sudden oil price increases".

In the statement, they said they were worried by the continued surge in oil prices and how that affects people and the economy.

They urged each other to give financial help only to poor people to pay for fuel, saying any subsidies should remain "short-term and targeted" to avoid cushioning the economy from adjusting to higher prices in the long run.

Global oil prices have quadrupled over the last seven years, coming close to $140 a barrel in trading last week.

EU states said these record highs underscored the need for Europe to shift toward alternative fuels and cut energy use. They also said they wanted more openness in oil markets to cool speculation - which would mean publishing more information on oil stocks.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called for more talks with oil-producing nations as he heads to Saudi Arabia to ask Gulf states to invest some of the recent huge profits in alternative energies.

"That's money that should be invested for the benefit of the whole world," he said, claiming oil producers have generated some $3 trillion from more expensive oil.

The EC has said that although it opposed wide tax cuts on fuel it would not stop European governments from slashing excise duty or taxing windfall profits generated by oil companies.

EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said governments could easily reduce national excise duties, which vary widely from country to country. Windfall taxes were "not in contradiction" with EU rules, he said also.

He urged Europe to offer real help to people suffering the worst from higher grocery and gas pump prices, warning that this was creating "a new kind of poverty."

Rocketing fuel prices have pushed inflation in euro-zone countries to a 16-year high and forced truck drivers and fishermen to protest - sometimes violently - across Europe because they say they risk losing their livelihoods.