EU plans to ban new Russian gas contracts and end all imports by 2027

Strasbourg/Brussels, 6 May (CTK correspondent) – The European Union will propose a ban on signing new contracts with Russian gas suppliers, while existing spot contracts will be terminated by the end of 2025. Energy Commissioner Dan Jørgensen announced this today in Strasbourg, where he presented a plan to end all imports of Russian fossil fuels into the European Union.

According to the Commission, these measures will ensure that the remaining Russian gas supplies to the EU are reduced by one-third by the end of this year. The EU executive will also propose ending all remaining imports of Russian gas by the end of 2027.

The plan sets out nine specific measures for the coordinated and gradual phaseout of Russian energy supplies. In June, the European Commission is expected to publish specific legislative proposals concerning oil, gas and nuclear energy.

Commissioner Jørgensen said the EU was sending Russia a clear signal with today’s decision that it would no longer be able to “use energy as a weapon against EU countries”. “Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, we have been trying to reduce imports of all energy from Russia so as not to support the Russian war machine,” he said at a press conference. Nevertheless, the European Union bought €23 billion worth of Russian energy in 2024 (CZK 573 billion), more than the amount of its aid to Ukraine as it defended itself. “That has to end,” the commissioner added, saying the new plan should complete the process of freeing the EU from dependence on Russian gas.

The EU executive will work with individual member states to ensure that the phaseout of Russian energy imports across the EU is gradual and well coordinated. Member states will be asked to prepare national plans by the end of this year, setting out how they will contribute to the gradual phaseout of Russian gas, nuclear energy and oil imports. According to the European Commission, these plans will take account of each member state’s specific circumstances and diversification needs.

“The war in Ukraine has brutally exposed the risks of blackmail, economic coercion and price shocks. Thanks to REPowerEU, we have diversified our energy supplies and drastically reduced Europe’s previous dependence on Russian fossil fuels,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said.

Europe must now, she said, “completely sever its energy ties with an unreliable supplier”.

The European Commission presented the REPowerEU plan in May 2022, three months after the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Its aim is to free the EU from dependence on fossil fuels from Russia and accelerate energy savings and the development of renewable energy sources.

Measures adopted so far have reduced the volume of Russian gas imports from 150 billion cubic metres in 2021 to 52 billion cubic metres in 2024, with the share of Russian gas imports falling from 45 percent to 19 percent. Sanctions have banned all imports of Russian coal, while oil imports have fallen from 27 percent at the beginning of 2022 to the current three percent. Member states that still use Russian-designed VVER reactors have made progress in replacing Russian nuclear fuel with fuel from other producers, the Commission said.