EU Nears Completion of Plan to End Reliance on Russian Fossil Fuels

The EU has almost prepared a plan to get rid of dependence on Russian energy carriers

The European Commission is planning to present a roadmap in the near future that will set out steps to phase out imports of Russian fossil fuels, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said at an event in London.

The Gaze reports on this with reference to Reuters.

Von der Leyen reminded that the EU has promised to refuse oil and gas from Russia after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Among other things, Russian gas currently accounts for 18% of the European Commission's total imports, compared to 45% in 2021, the President of the European Commission noted.

This was achieved by increasing exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States and increasing gas imports from Norway.

‘These energy partnerships, including LNG imports from the United States, remain strategically important for the European Union,’ she stressed.

Speaking about the roadmap to end energy dependence on Russia, von der Leyen did not confirm the exact date of its publication, but the European Commission's agenda suggests that it could happen on 6 May.

Earlier, European Commission officials abandoned the idea of including a ban on Russian LNG imports as part of sanctions packages against Russia, as some member states vowed to block the restrictions.

Instead, the EU executive body is evaluating various legal instruments to include in the roadmap, including banning companies from signing new gas contracts with Russia or providing them with legal grounds to terminate existing contracts.

As The Gaze reported earlier, the European Commission is currently assessing the possibility of introducing legislation that would prevent firms within the European Union from signing new contracts for Russian fossil fuels.