A new era of complete energy independence from Russia is dawning, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said today on the occasion of the preliminary agreement adopted tonight to end Russian gas imports to the EU in the coming months, BTA reported.
According to her, until the beginning of the Russian military attack on Ukraine, the EU imported fuel from Russia worth 12 billion euros per month, and this share has now been reduced to 1.5 billion euros. This is still too much, we are striving for zero supplies, Von der Leyen pointed out. Today is a historic day for the EU, we are turning the page forever, a new era is beginning, she said.
European Commissioner for Energy Dan Jorgensen commented that today is a good day for Europe and Ukraine, and a bad day for Russia. We are taking an unprecedented but necessary historical decision, he added. According to him, Russian President Vladimir Putin has turned energy into a weapon, blackmailed EU countries and used the revenues from the sale of fuels to finance the war against Ukraine.
Today we say "Never again", we choose a new future of energy security, with energy produced by us, the European Commissioner said. He announced that the EC would present a bill to end the import of Russian oil by 2027 at the latest.
The EU Council and the European Parliament announced that they had reached preliminary approval tonight on the European Commission's proposal to gradually end the import of Russian gas in the coming months. The decision is yet to be further approved by MEPs and EU countries, so that the import of Russian liquefied gas can be stopped from the end of next year, and gas imported through pipelines - from 2027.
The change will introduce a mandatory ban on the import of six months after the decision enters into force. There will be a transitional period for existing contracts - for short-term agreements concluded by June 17 this year, imports will be able to continue until June next year at the latest; for long-term contracts for liquefied gas, the restrictions will apply from January 1, 2027, and contracts for gas pipeline supplies will be terminated at the latest by November 1, 2027. The conclusion of additional agreements under existing contracts will be allowed in exceptional cases and for limited volumes of supplies.