Energy Wars! Paris and Brussels Block EU Plan to Ban Russian Natural Gas Imports

France and Belgium - some of the largest buyers of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) in Europe - are blocking the adoption of the European Commission's proposed plan to abandon gas from Russia, writes Politico.

According to the European publication, these countries are demanding further analysis of the economic and legal consequences of this step.

In particular, France, which is the largest buyer of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG), prefers the strategy of finding alternative sources of supply. In turn, Belgium, which is in second place, is demanding a report detailing the economic consequences of abandoning Russian gas.

"We defend the European diversification strategy... which is already on the table", announced French Energy Minister Marc Ferracci.

The French minister also raised the issue of "legal certainty" of the European Commission's proposal, fearing that private companies could face Russian lawsuits for failing to fulfill contracts to import gas from Russia.

In particular, the French company TotalEnergies has a contract for the supply of liquefied natural gas (LNG) with Russia's "Novatek", designed until 2032, and also owns a 20% stake in the "Yamal" project, which operates a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in Siberia.

Belgium, which intends to continue receiving and storing Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) until 2035, also wants assurances from the European Commission about deals already concluded.

"We ask the European Commission to present a thorough impact assessment" of these measures, said Belgian Energy Minister Mathieu Biele.

According to him, the country will hold technical negotiations on the impact of the European Commission's proposed decision on Belgium's liquefied natural gas (LNG) infrastructure.

Politico notes that the statements of the French and Belgian governments contradict the positions of other major importers of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the EU: Spain and the Netherlands. Both countries have said they are ready to support the future plan.

Last year, these four countries imported 16.77 million tons of Russian liquefied gas, according to Kpler, which accounts for 97% of total EU imports and more than half of Moscow's global exports. Together, they have spent over €6 billion on buying liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Russia.

Support from all four countries will be crucial, as Hungary and Slovakia are likely to try to thwart the European Commission’s plan to divest from Russian energy.

Furthermore, many politicians and industry representatives in the EU are calling for a return to Russian energy resources after the end of the war launched by Russia against Ukraine, complaining about high electricity and gas prices in Europe.

When can the EU completely divest from Russian gas?

As reported, in early May the European Commission presented the REPowerEU roadmap, which should ensure the achievement of full energy independence of the EU from Russia. This includes stopping imports of Russian gas and oil, as well as phasing out Russian nuclear energy technologies.

As for gas, the European Commission plans to tighten controls on Russian gas imports into EU markets, ban new contracts with Russian gas suppliers (pipelines and LNG) and terminate existing spot contracts by the end of 2025. As a result, the EU should reduce imports of Russian gas by a third by the end of this year and completely stop them by the end of 2027.

According to the European Commission, EU imports of Russian gas have decreased from 150 billion cubic meters in 2021 to 52 billion cubic meters. m in 2024, while the share of Russian gas imports has decreased from 45% to 19%.

This plan has already been criticized by Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who called it unacceptable.