Russian gas phase-out/RePowerEU: Parliament and Council’s deal to end Russian energy weaponization
The EU puts dependency on Russian gas to an end. Last night, the European Parliament under the leadership of Co-Rapporteurs Ville Niinistö (Greens/EFA, Committee on Industry, Research and Energy, ITRE) and Inese Vaidere (EPP, Committee on International Trade, INTA) sealed a deal with the Council on the Regulation on phasing out Russian natural gas imports, improving monitoring of potential energy dependencies. Greens/EFA shadow in INTA is Markéta Gregorová.
The permanent ban of Russian gas will apply in early 2026 for new contracts. For existing liquefied natural gas (LNG) contracts, the European Parliament has managed to bring forward the phase-out date by one full year (1 January 2027) compared with both the Council’s mandate and the Commission’s proposal. For pipeline gas, existing long-term contracts will be prohibited from 30 September 2027, three months earlier than in the Commission’s proposal. For banning imports of Russian oil, the European Parliament secured a commitment from the European Commission to make a legislative proposal at the beginning of 2026 to ban imports as soon as possible, but no later than by the end of 2027.
Greens/EFA MEP Ville Niinistö, Rapporteur in the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) and Chair of the Delegation to the EU-Russia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee, comments:
“This day is a historic day. Europe commits clearly to exiting Russian fossil fuels for good. The European Parliament achieved all of its major demands in the negotiations. The deadline for banning both LNG gas and pipeline gas is being shortened from the Commission´s proposal significantly, risk for circumvention and loopholes are being addressed robustly, enforcement is strong with harmonised penalties for breaches and the Commission pledges also to make a legislative proposal to ban oil imports from Russia as soon as possible. This is a major victory for European unity in the face of Russian aggression. We show support to Ukraine and show that we will never again allow Russia to weaponize trade with fossil fuels against us. For the Greens/EFA Group, presenting a solution for this huge political issue is one of the biggest achievements in this mandate. For years, we have been the most vocal political group calling for such a ban.”
Background & next steps
The EU institutions also agreed on strict monitoring and managed to successfully introduce EU-wide maximum penalties, something absent from both the Commission’s original text and the Council’s mandate. In cases of non-compliance, legal persons may be fined with at least 3.5% of worldwide annual turnover, or at least €40 million, or at least 300% of the estimated value of the transaction. Natural persons may face penalties of no less than €2.5 million.
All Member States will be required to develop comprehensive plans to eliminate dependence on Russian gas and for those still using Russian oil the plans on phasing Russian oil will also be mandatory. Thanks to the Parliament, the co-legislators agreed to significantly tighten the Commission’s original emergency-brake mechanism (Article 15), which would allow temporary derogation (limited to 4 weeks) from the ban.
The members of the European Parliament will vote on the outcome of trilogue negotiations on Tuesday, 16 December. In addition, the Greens/EFA Group will request a plenary debate ahead of the vote.
