UPDATE 1-EDF says Britain is priority, no decision on Spain

(Recasts with comments from AGM)

By Marie Maitre and Benjamin Mallet

PARIS May 20 (Reuters) - French power giant EDF (EDF.PA) restated its ambitions to take on Europe, naming Britain, Spain and Belgium as key targets of expansion.

"We're of course examining external growth opportunities... This means building on our positions when we're already present in a country, and to develop in new countries," Pierre Gadonneix told the state-controlled company's annual shareholders meeting on Tuesday.

Gadonneix stopped short of naming the companies the French nuclear power giant covets in Britain and Spain, only saying that the United Kingdom was a "priority" country and that no decision had yet been made on Spain.

British Energy BGY.L said on Friday it has received several takeover proposals valuing it at more than 10.8 billion pounds ($21 billion).

In addition to EDF, sources close to the matter have also named a group made up of Germany's RWE (RWEG.DE) and Spain's Iberdrola (IBE.MC), and Suez LYOE.PA as those in contact with British Energy.

EDF is already present in Britain through its wholly owned subsidiary EDF Energy, but the acquisition of British Energy would strengthen its presence and put it in the forefront of Britain's new drive towards nuclear power.

In Spain, EDF has admitted holding discussions with Iberdrola (IBE.MC) shareholder ACS (ACS.MC) on a possible takeover, but has said nothing further on its intentions after facing strong opposition from Iberdrola's management.

"We have made our interest for the Spanish market public. Any potential deal would have to fulfil our investment criteria. At this stage, no decision is made," EDF told shareholders on Tuesday.

EDF will dedicate more than 35 billion euros ($54.49 billion) in the 2008-2010 period to build on its business positions in Europe, Gadonneix said.

He insisted that any deal would have to be coherent in terms of strategy, financially profitable, and be accepted by political authorities in the countries involved.

EDF gave more details on its plans regarding Belgium, where Gadonneix said it had made an offer for the 57 percent stake that Suez LYOE.PA is selling in Distrigaz.

Gadonneix also confirmed EDF's interest in Gaz de France's GAZ.PA 25 percent holding in Belgian electricity group SPE. Suez and Gaz de France are selling the holding as part of their proposed merger, which is expected to be completed in coming weeks.

Earlier this month, a source close to Nicolas Sarkozy told Reuters that the French President had urged Belgian authorities to treat EDF in the same way as other potential buyers of Distrigaz after Brussels voiced worries that an EDF deal may lead to a domination of the Belgian energy sector by French groups.

EDF shares closed down 0.1 percent at 45.30 euros, outperforming the rest of the European utilities .SX6P sector, which finished the session 1.04 percent lower. (Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta, editing by Will Waterman)