The European Union is sticking to its deadline to phase out Russian oil and gas imports by 2028, EU Energy Commissioner Dan Jorgensen said after a meeting with US Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Reuters reports.
The EU is negotiating legal proposals to completely eliminate Russian oil and gas imports by January 1, 2028, with a ban on short-term contracts to come into effect next year. But the bloc is also facing pressure from the United States to end Russian energy imports sooner.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said yesterday that the EU was considering a faster phase-out of Russian fossil fuels as part of new sanctions against Moscow.
EU officials were in Washington earlier this week to discuss the sanctions. However, Jorgensen clarified that sanctions were not discussed during his meeting with Wright in Brussels.
Jorgensen's focus was to make sure that EU countries and lawmakers approve the phasing out by 2028 - which is separate from any EU sanctions - as soon as possible.
"This is a very, very ambitious plan", he stressed.
"If there are other things that we can do at the same time that will also put pressure on Russia, of course I am very happy to do that," the EU commissioner added.
In a bid to end the war in Ukraine, US President Donald Trump last week urged European leaders to stop buying oil from Russia.
Jorgensen declined to comment on whether Wright had asked the EU to give up Russian gas more quickly and oil.
"Our goal is to deploy American energy exports to our allies around the world. I think this moment is especially important for Europe, where almost 50% of natural gas imports come from Russia", Wright noted in turn after the meeting in Brussels.
"We are striving to reduce it to zero and the biggest filler in that gap is energy exports from the United States. We want to continue to do this and to stop all Russian energy imports into the EU," he stressed.
Jørgensen said they had come together around the view that Europe should act as quickly as possible to do so, and had discussed several ways in which this could be done.
The EU's proposed phase-out by 2028 is designed "to happen in a way that does not lead to price increases and future supply problems," Jørgensen explained, adding that this would require Europe to buy more liquefied natural gas from the United States.