Forbidden spot: The European Parliament will support the abandonment of Russian gas from 2027
The main factions of the European Parliament will support a ban on gas supplies from Russia, Izvestia found out. The European Commission has submitted a plan to stop importing it from 2027. The EC also proposed to ban the countries of the Union from purchasing uranium and nuclear fuel from the Russian Federation. The new sanctions are creating a split within the EU, with Hungary and Slovakia opposing the abandonment of Russian energy supplies. The ban will be a heavy burden for consumers, and in 2024, the price of gas broke records for all time. Whether Europe will accept a ban on the supply of Russian energy resources and who can benefit from it is in the Izvestia article.
EU discusses ban on Russian gas supplies
The European Commission intends to ban the import of Russian pipeline gas and LNG under existing contracts from 2027, said European Commissioner for Energy Dan Jorgensen. Moreover, spot purchases of Russian gas are planned to be banned by the end of 2025. It will be impossible to conclude new contracts, and for EU companies, Brussels' decision will mean declaring force majeure on the agreements.
In addition to natural gas supplies to the EU, they intend to ban the countries of the union from purchasing uranium and nuclear fuel from Russia, and Euratom will stop approving new contracts. The countries of the association must prepare national plans by the end of 2025, which will outline how they will phase out Russian resources.
The EC plans to present specific legislative measures in June. These proposals will need to be approved by the European Parliament and, most likely, by the majority of countries in the EU Council. The EC believes that the plan to abandon energy supplies from the Russian Federation should be approved by a qualified majority of votes, and not unanimously, like sanctions. In this case, Hungary and Slovakia alone will not be able to prevent this. Brussels can also use trade instruments such as tariffs or quotas. Duties on all Russian gas imports will lead to higher prices for consumers, but they may make fuel purchases from Russia unprofitable.
The factions of the European People's Party (188 seats), Renew Europe (77 seats) and the Greens (53 seats) will support measures against Russian energy sources, Tomasz Zdechowski, MEP and EPP member, told Izvestia.
"Some left—wing groups and individual MEPs may also support this proposal, while others may oppose it due to concerns about energy prices and social consequences," the politician told Izvestia.
The Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats faction, which has 136 seats in the EP, is likely to speak out in favor of the ban. In total, these political forces have more than half of the votes, so the European Parliament is likely to support a ban on Russian gas imports from 2027.
However, the plan is not approved by other EP factions. In particular, Milan Mazurek, a member of the Europe of Sovereign Nations group and an MEP from Slovakia, told Izvestia that from an economic point of view such bans are unprofitable and irrational for Slovakia and for Europe.
"As a member of the European Parliament, I will continue to vote against these senseless anti—Russian initiatives," the MEP told Izvestia.
The politician will put pressure on the current Slovak government inside the country to refrain from supporting sanctions and prohibitions against Russia, not only in statements, but also directly during negotiations in Brussels. Slovakia must defend its rights and take a clear and firm position in defense of its own interests and against anti-Russian bans, Milan Mazurek believes.
The head of the Government of the Republic, Robert Fico, noted that the gas embargo "will only lead to further price increases and a decrease in the competitiveness of the potential of European industry." The deputy speaker of the Slovak Parliament, Tibor Gaspar, said in an interview with Izvestia that Bratislava is interested in continuing to purchase Russian energy resources. Slovakia is currently trying to get Kiev to resume gas transit through Ukrainian territory.
Earlier it became known that the European Commissioner from Hungary, Oliver Varheyi, is postponing the approval of a new EU plan to abandon Russian energy resources. Prime Minister Viktor Orban has repeatedly stated that an embargo on Russian gas supplies to the union would have a devastating effect on the economy not only of Hungary, but of the whole of Europe. It is worth noting that Budapest has already sought exceptions to European sanctions, for example, by protecting the Paks-2 NPP construction project with Russia from them.
There are great doubts that Brussels will be able to force Bratislava and Budapest to agree to abandon Russian gas. Because even in a more difficult situation in 2022, they blocked such proposals, Igor Yushkov, a leading analyst at the National Energy Security Fund, said in an interview with Izvestia.
The latest anti-market measures proposed by Brussels, dictated solely by political motives, will cause even greater damage to the EU economy. Russia, in turn, remains ready to develop mutually beneficial energy cooperation with Europe, the Russian Permanent Mission to the EU told Izvestia.
How will the withdrawal from Russian energy resources affect the EU
Brussels has been preparing for the abandonment of gas from the Russian Federation for a long time. In May 2022, the European Union launched the REPowerEU program, aimed at ending dependence on Russian energy resources by 2027. It should be recalled that since August 2022, there has been a ban on the purchase, import or transit of Russian coal. On December 5, 2022, the embargo on Russian oil shipments to the EU entered into force. An exception was made for pumping through the Druzhba oil pipeline for Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. And in February 2023, an embargo on the supply of Russian petroleum products began to take effect.
Sanctions against Russian gas have not been officially introduced, but its imports have halved since 2022. In 2024, Russia supplied about 19% of the gas consumed by the European Union, and in 2021 this share was 45%. In absolute terms, purchases in three years decreased from 150 billion cubic meters to 51.7 billion cubic meters.
It should be recalled that Nord Streams failed due to sabotage in September 2022, and Moscow stopped supplies via the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline in April 2022 due to customers' refusal to pay for fuel in rubles. And since January 1, transit through Ukraine has stopped due to Kiev's refusal to extend it. Currently, Russian pipeline gas supplies are carried out via the Turkish Stream. Since the beginning of 2025, pumping along this route has been 13.08% higher than the same period last year, with 5.797 billion cubic meters of gas supplied.
Brussels hopes to convince EU members that additional LNG will enter the global market by 2027. And therefore, the rejection of Russian gas will not negatively affect the countries of the Union. However, the absence of energy resources from the Russian Federation on the European market will in any case increase the exchange prices for natural gas.
"The United States is going to double LNG exports in the next three years, and Australia also intends to put several plants into operation," Igor Yushkov noted.
The main victim will be the average European consumer. Last year, the average price of gas for households set an all—time record of €0.1233 per kWh. By the way, the highest prices are recorded in Sweden, the Netherlands and Italy. And the lowest are in Hungary, Croatia and Romania. European economic growth will also slow down, predicts Stanislav Mitrakhovich, a leading expert at the National Energy Security Foundation and the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation.
— There are forecasts that Germany may be in recession. Energy—intensive production in Europe is currently going through difficult times, and there are cuts due to the departure of these enterprises to other regions of the world, for example, to the United States or China," the expert told Izvestia.
The United States and partly Qatar can benefit from the EU's refusal to buy Russian gas, Igor Yushkov emphasized. Moreover, such a step gives Brussels an opportunity for dialogue with Washington, because the EU will be able to purchase more American LNG as part of a deal to reduce its trade deficit. The United States is already the largest supplier of liquefied natural gas to the EU, and last year the Americans shut down 45% of European LNG imports.
On the other hand, it became known earlier that representatives of Russia and the United States are considering the resumption of the Nord Stream and Nord Stream–2 gas pipelines, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in March. This means that Washington may well make the issue of Russian energy supplies to the EU part of the negotiation process.
Europe's abandonment of Russian gas will not be easy in any case and will face resistance from a number of countries and businesses. Earlier, Brussels had already tried unsuccessfully to get away from Russian oil, but it was not able to do this completely. Against the background of the negotiation process on Ukraine between the Russian Federation and the United States in Brussels, their new restrictions only show a fundamental unwillingness to dialogue with Moscow.
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