EU Parliament takes historical step to energy independence and puts an end to Russian energy weaponization
Russian gas phase-out/RePowerEU
The EU ends the era of European gas dependency on Russia. Members of the European Parliament just voted in favour of the agreement with the Council found 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). Greens/EFA shadow in INTA is Markéta Gregorová. The historic deal on the Regulation on phasing out Russian natural gas imports permanently bans Russian gas from Europe from early 2026 on for new contracts, from 1 January 2027 for existing long-term LNG contracts and from 30 September 2027 on for long-term contracts for pipeline gas. The European Parliament also secured a commitment from the European Commission to make a legislative proposal at the beginning of 2026 to ban imports of Russian oil 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 is a historic moment. The era of European gas dependency on Russia is over. This decision marks a major victory for European unity and support for Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression and their attempts to divide us by manipulating the energy market. The Russian business model of using energy as a weapon and as a cash machine to finance their attack on Ukraine has become obsolete.
“The EU shall not make the mistake of sliding from one energy dependency into the next. We need massive investments in renewable energies and energy efficiency to become energy independent from the dictators in this world.
“The next target for the EU is to prohibit Russian oil. The European Commission committed to making a legislative proposal in the beginning of next year to ban oil imports from Russia, and we want it done as soon as possible. The era of Russian energy weaponization and Europe fuelling Putin’s war machinery is coming to an end.”
