Ursula von der Leyen: EU will phase out Russian gas by end of 2027

The European Union intends to completely stop imports of Russian gas by the end of 2027, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said during her speech at the European Parliament today․

"Four years ago, Russia tried to blackmail us. At that time, 45% of our gas imports came from Russia. Almost overnight, almost all of it was cut off. But Europe stood together and we came out stronger. We diversified our supplies. And we massively accelerated investments in homegrown clean energy. Today, our import of Russian gas has fallen from 45% to 12%. And we will reduce that to zero by the end of next year. In addition, more than 70% of our electricity today comes from homegrown and clean sources – renewables and nuclear. Because of these decisions we took in 2022, today we are less vulnerable and in a better position. Therefore, the decisions we take today must follow the same logic. In the short term we need to support Member States to respond to the immediate pressure. But for the mid- and long-term, we need to continue to address the structural issues that leave us exposed to volatile foreign fossil fuel markets. So, we need to invest in our resilience" she said.