European Union ambassadors have agreed to move forward with the bloc's plan to end Russian oil and gas imports by 2028, Reuters reports, News.bg reports.
This clears the first political hurdle for the law before governments vote on it later this month.
The EU is negotiating legal proposals to phase out Russian oil and gas by January 2028 in an attempt to deprive the Kremlin of revenue to finance its war in Ukraine.
At a closed-door meeting today, EU ambassadors agreed to forward the proposed law to their ministers for approval at a meeting of 20 October.
Diplomats said almost all EU countries had signaled support for the plans, suggesting it would pass easily, despite criticism from Hungary and Slovakia, whose governments want to maintain close ties with Russia.
Negotiations on technical changes are continuing ahead of the vote on October 20.
The question of whether exports of liquefied natural gas to Europe should be pre-authorized before the shipment and its origin are checked by customs authorities upon arrival at EU ports to ensure it is not Russian remains unresolved.
France and Italy have said they support the overall plan but insist that shipments should either be pre-approved, if authorities can enforce this quickly enough, or checked upon arrival in the EU to ensure the ban is enforced.
If approved, the law would end Europe's decades-long dependence on Russian oil and gas. It envisages a gradual phasing out of Russian gas imports under new contracts from January 2026, then of existing short-term contracts from June 2026 and of long-term contracts in January 2028.
Some countries, including Hungary, France and Belgium, still import Russian gas, which accounts for 12% of EU gas imports, compared with 45% before Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The law will oblige Hungary and Slovakia - the two countries that still import Russian oil - to draw up national plans to stop these imports by 2028.
A “qualified majority” of EU member states, meaning at least 55% of them - must approve the plans. EU countries and lawmakers will then agree on the final law.
Separately, the EU is also negotiating a new sanctions package against Russia that would ban liquefied natural gas a year earlier, in January 2027.