Brussels, Europe Brief News – The European Commission is mapping out plans for the EU to prevent importing Russian fossil fuels by the end of 2027. But the Versailles declaration agreed by all states at the meeting does not reference the 2027 end date.
Ursula Von der Leyen, President of the European Commission said after the meeting of EU heads in France “By mid-May, we will come up with a proposal to phase out our dependency on Russian gas, oil and coal by 2027.
Sanna Marin, Finland’s Prime Minister said: “It is a very difficult situation that on the one hand, we have these financial sanctions that are very hard but on the other, we are purchasing oil, gas and other fossil fuels from Russia”.
At the beginning of this week, The commission asked member states to minimise their use of Russian gas by Two-thirds this year and start to invest in renewables and non-Russian gas.
The energy and clean air Analyst at the Centre of Research estimates the EU has purchased 9 billion Euro worth of fossil fuels from Russia since it invaded Ukraine.
Irina Stavchuk, Ukraine’s Deputy Environment Minister said “every day the EU pays hundreds of millions of Euros to Putin’s regime for gas. It fuels Russia’s ability to continue the aggression”.
She further added that this is the reason why we call on our international partners to impose an embargo on oil and gas from Russia, timber and wood products and other materials.
Under the declaration, Member states agreed to phase out the use of Russian fossil fuels as soon as possible and they will do this by minimising their overall reliance on fossil fuels.
LNG gas as Alternative of Russian Fossil Fuels:
During the talks at versatile, member states also agreed on developing a hydrogen market and providing LNG infrastructure to boost the block’s energy security.
Ven der Leyen said that the EU wants a lot more LNG to come to its shores. She also mentioned that no matter what we do with LNG gas, the pipelines can one day be used as infrastructure for hydrogen so it’s overall an ideal transition.
LNG is a methane gas that has been turned into a liquid so that it can be transported on ships and trucks. It usually comes from exporters like Qatar, Algeria and the US.
