Europe wants to put an end to imports of Russian gas by the end of 2027

Who really benefits from Western economic sanctions against Russia?

Fight against ghost ships

The will of Europe is to put the turbo to no longer depend on Moscow. Initially, the EU intends to prohibit new import contracts and put an end to existing short contracts (spot) before the end of 2025, measures which should, by the end of this year, reduce its gas supplies from Russia by a third. Secondly, the Commission should later propose to do without Russian gas (pipeline and LNG) before the end of 2027.

In the arsenal of measures presented on Tuesday, Europe provides for new actions in order to fight against ghost fleets, these boats which manage to bypass Russian oil embargo. Measures against Russian imports of enriched uranium are also mentioned for the month of June.

“It is now time for Europe to completely cut energy links with a supplier who is no longer reliable. And that the energy that arrives on our continent should no longer finance a war of aggression towards Ukraine”, explained Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission. “Today, the European Union sends a very clear message to Russia: we will never allow Russia to use energy as a weapon against us”underlined the European Commissioner Dan Jorgensen.

Legislative proposals

The Commission will present legislative proposals next month and specifies that it will associate the Member States concerned. She will ensure that the proposals are founded “On an adequate assessment of legal and economic impacts, in order to give companies the necessary certainty”.

To materialize this ambition to pass by the Russian gas by the end of 2027, one of the major challenges will obviously be for the EU to diversify its supplies. The EU had mentioned several months ago the possibility of further increasing its American LNG imports. But trade tensions with the United States of Donald Trump have scrambled the cards.

The other big question is: How will the member states position themselves? Some like Hungary do not hide their proximity to Moscow. Others are increasingly dependent on Russian LNG. Note that in Belgium, Zeebrugge remains the first importer porter in Europe, according to the Institute for Economics and Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA). Nearly seven billion cubic meters of this Russian gas passed through the gas terminal in 2024, down 11%.

The commission’s proposals must be adopted by the European Parliament as well as by the Member States (Council), by qualified majority. A country like Hungary, whose leader Viktor Orban remains close to Moscow, could refuse to present a national plan, which remains very dependent on Russian energy. It would then be exposed to the classic EU offense procedures. Budapest hastened Tuesday to qualify the European plan as “very serious error”.