EU has fully ended its reliance on Russian energy – Ursula von der Leyen

“Today is truly a historic day for our Union… We have reached a preliminary agreement on the Commission’s proposal to completely phase out Russian fossil fuels. We are turning this page, and we are turning it forever. This is the dawn of a new era — an era of Europe’s complete energy independence from Russia,” she said in Brussels.

Von der Leyen emphasized that many believed this would be impossible. “Well, the numbers speak for themselves, and let me cite a few. Today, imports of Russian gas — both LNG and pipeline gas — have fallen from 45% at the start of the war to 13%. Coal imports have fallen from 51% at the start of the war to zero. And crude oil imports have fallen from 26% to 2% today. I always knew we could succeed through unity, determination and the extraordinary work of the past three years,” the European Commission president said.

She said that thanks to the RePowerEU plan, the EU overcame “the worst energy crisis in decades.” “We saved energy together while ensuring full energy security. We diversified our suppliers into reliable partners, signed new partnership agreements and invested in renewable energy and nuclear power at unprecedented speed. Today, half of our electricity comes from renewable sources, and if we look at low-carbon energy — that is, nuclear and renewables — it is 74%. And this is just the beginning,” von der Leyen said.

Another important factor, she added, is that “as we have dramatically reduced our fossil fuel imports from Russia, we have also reduced the revenues Russia uses to wage its war of aggression against Ukraine.” “At the beginning of the war, we were paying Russia €12 billion a month for fossil fuels. Now we pay Russia €1.5 billion a month, which is still too much. We aim to bring this to zero,” she said.

European Commissioner for Energy Dan Jørgensen said new short- and long-term contracts will be banned in six weeks. “Then we will address the remaining imports under existing contracts. Existing long-term LNG contracts will be banned from Jan. 1, 2027, in line with sanctions agreed earlier this year. Existing long-term pipeline contracts will end on Dec. 30, 2027. As for short-term contracts, we will end LNG contracts in April 2026 and pipeline contracts in June 2026. This will result in a complete phase-out of Russian gas from EU markets in fall 2027,” he said.

Regarding Russian oil imports to the EU, the commissioner said a legislative proposal to ban all Russian oil imports will be tabled early next year. “We must do this as quickly as possible, but no later than the end of 2027. So, in conclusion, we choose security for our people, stability for our economy, independence for Europe — and once again, we stand with Ukraine,” Jørgensen stressed.

Earlier, it was reported that the EU Council and the European Parliament agreed on a regulation providing for a phased ban on Russian gas imports — LNG by the end of 2026 and pipeline gas by fall 2027.