EU Commission heralds the end of Nord Stream - Viktor Orbán and Robert Fico remain Putin's stooges
RePowerEU/Energy dependence on Russia
Strasbourg/Brussels, Monday, 16 June - At today’s Energy Council, Hungarian and Slovak ministers refused to support the conclusions and thus the call for an end to energy dependence from Russia. Irrespective of this, tomorrow (Tuesday, 17 June) the EU Commission will finalise its legislative proposal to end dependence on Russian gas and oil. A legislative proposal on nuclear energy is expected to follow at a later point.
MEP Ville Niinistö from Finland, Greens/EFA co-coordinator in the Committee for Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE), comments:
"Viktor Orbán and Robert Fico are becoming the lone mouthpieces of the Russian president. The legislative proposal by the EU Commission on ending the import of Russian energy has been long pushed by the Greens.It is also vital in stopping the energy imports and circumventing the veto on sanctions used by these useful idiots for Russia.
“The EU Commission is finally taking the necessary and long-awaited step towards ending energy dependence on Russia. Only the expansion of renewable energies and energy efficiency policies will protect us from dependency in the long term and ensure competitive energy prices in the medium term.”
MEP Michael Bloss from Germany, Greens/EFA co-coordinator in the Committee for Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE), comments:
“At last we have a clear signal to the Russian ruler to stop filling the war chest with European money. This legislative proposal will get us out of Vladimir Putin's blackmail trap and towards genuine energy sovereignty. Only Viktor Orbán and Robert Fico remain stooges of the Russian autocrat.
“We must not stumble from one dependency to the next. Donald Trump's fracked gas is not a viable alternative. It is important not only to impose a ban on Russian gas, but also to ensure full traceability and monitoring, so that Russia cannot circumvent the ban in any way. Hopefully, the Commission will also include tools to guarantee transparency and traceability in its proposal.”
Background:
The EU has committed to phasing out Russian energy imports as part of the RePowerEU plan from March 2022. The EU Commission's roadmap envisages ending dependence on Russian energy by 2027. Tomorrow the Commission will adopt the legislative proposal to gradually phase out Russian gas imports from the EU market and improve monitoring of potential energy dependencies. The Greens/EFA welcome the European Commission's initiative as a long overdue step towards ending energy dependence on Russia.
