European Commission: EU to fully end its dependence on Russian energy
The European Union will end its dependency on Russian energy by stopping the import of Russian gas and oil and phasing out Russian nuclear energy, while ensuring stable energy supplies and prices across the EU, the European Commission (EC) said on May 6.
The REPowerEU Roadmap, presented on May 6 by the EC, paves the way to ensure the EU’s full energy independence from Russia, the EC said.
The EC said that in spite of the significant progress achieved under the REPowerEU Plan and via sanctions since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in 2024 the EU saw a rebound in Russian gas imports.
“More coordinated actions are therefore needed, as the EU’s overdependency on Russian energy imports is a security threat,” the EC said.
EC President Ursula von der Leyen said: “The war in Ukraine has brutally exposed the risks of blackmail, economic coercion and price shocks.
“With REPowerEU, we have diversified our energy supply and drastically reduced Europe’s former dependency on Russian fossil fuels. It is now time for Europe to completely cut off its energy ties with an unreliable supplier,” Von der Leyen said.
“And energy that comes to our continent should not pay for a war of aggression against Ukraine. We owe this to our citizens, to our companies and to our brave Ukrainian friends,” she said.
The roadmap sets out a gradual removal of Russian oil, gas and nuclear energy from the EU markets which will take place in a coordinated and secure manner as the EU advances its energy transition, the statement said.
It said that the measures have been designed to preserve the security of the EU’s energy supply while limiting any impact on prices and markets.
As of 2025, the global LNG supplies are foreseen to grow rapidly, while gas demand will decrease, the EC said.
It said that with the full implementation of the energy transition framework and the Action Plan for Affordable Energy, the EU is expected to replace up to 100 billion cubic meters of natural gas by 2030, which means a decrease in demand by 40-50 bcm by 2027.
At the same time, LNG capacities are expected to increase by around 200 bcm by 2028, which is five times more than current EU imports of Russian gas.
The May 6 roadmap will be followed by legislative proposals by the EC next month, the EC said.
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