Scottish ministers should draw up a strategy to exploit a new €647 million European fund to promote energy connections, one of the new intake of European parliamentarians has said.

Ian Duncan, the Conservative MEP for Scotland and a member of the Brussels parliament's energy and environment committees, said the Scottish Government was "talking the talk but not walking the walk", alleging that it was not doing enough to advance ways to convey energy to markets in the rest of the UK and across the North Sea.

He said that Holyrood should be "working arm in arm" with Whitehall to devise ways to build the connectivity that would allow Scottish energy to compete with power generated in the rest of the UK and on the continent, particularly in energy-challenged markets in Eastern Europe, currently seen as being overly reliant on Russia.

Duncan, a geology PhD previously employed by BP, said: "We hear a lot about how energy-rich Scotland is, but this energy can't be moved anywhere without drawing down funding for better interconnectors. The Scottish Government talks the talk but isn't walking the walk. There's European money being made available for improving connectivity through the Channel Tunnel, so if Scotland is going to be transmitting power to England, it's going to be competing with energy from the Low Countries.

"The Scottish Government needs two things - a coherent strategy for energy distribution and a coherent interconnector strategy. They need to make clear what their priorities are. What are their plans to improve connectivity from the islands to the mainland and then where are they going to connect that energy to?

"There is no need to politicise this issue, it's one of these situations where everyone across these islands can benefit from greater co-operation as a rising tide lifts all boats."

Duncan claimed to have raised the issue with both UK and Scottish ministers, and offered his services to broker agreement between the two administrations. He said: "I spoke to Fergus Ewing about this recently and said that I would do everything I could in a non-partisan way and he responded very positively."

Energy projects in the UK are set to be awarded €75 million as part of the European Commission's €647m Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) for investing in infrastructure "to enhance security of supply across Europe". UK projects with potential cross-border benefits include electricity interconnection, smart grid and gas-storage projects.

UK projects awarded in this round include the longest proposed subsea cable in the world - the NSN interconnector linking Britain to Norwegian hydropower - and two interconnectors to France, one of which, ElecLink, will use the Channel Tunnel, which along with a further connection via the Channel Islands, FABLink, would almost double the power the UK is able to receive over our interconnectors.

The CEF provides grant ­funding to eligible "projects of common interest", with a further window for applications expected in early 2015. A total of €5.85 billion has been allocated to trans-European energy infrastructure for 2014-20. The new cash is expected to contribute to the completion of a European energy market and the integration of renewables to the electricity grid.

Energy commissioner Gunther Oettinger said the new allocation "will help us to quickly build the infrastructure we need to ensure Europe's energy security". He said: "The geopolitical crisis has highlighted the need to better connect energy networks. This is crucial for an integrated energy market where consumers get the best value for their money."

As well as gas pipelines in Eastern Europe, projects under consideration for EU support include a feasibility study for a 700km subsea high-voltage direct current cable between Norway and the UK, and a smart grids project on the border of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: "EU funds targeted at increasing interconnections between EU nations are designed to promote cross-border energy trading, not to connect the Scottish islands and the mainland electricity grid. The Scottish Government and the UK Government's Department of Energy & Climate Change have been working together over many years to understand and promote the huge renewable energy potential of the Scottish Islands, but the power to unlock that vast potential rests with UK Secretary of State Ed Davey."