EU ambassadors agree on plan to ban Russian gas and oil imports by 2028 - Reuters
The ambassadors of the European Union countries agreed to continue implementing the bloc's plan to stop imports of Russian oil and gas by 2028. This allowed the first political barrier to the adoption of the law to be overcome.
This was reported by Reuters, according to Censor.NET.
"The EU is negotiating legislative proposals to phase out imports of Russian oil and gas by January 2028, seeking to deprive the Kremlin of revenue to finance the war in Ukraine. At a closed meeting on Wednesday, EU ambassadors agreed to submit the proposed law to their ministers for approval at a meeting on October 20," the publication quotes three diplomats as saying.
If the law is passed, imports of Russian gas will be gradually phased out in accordance with new contracts from January 2026, and later in accordance with existing short-term contracts from June 2026 and long-term contracts in January 2028.
"Diplomats said that almost all EU countries had expressed support for these plans, indicating that they would be easily adopted despite criticism from Hungary and Slovakia, whose governments want to maintain close ties with Russia," Reuters writes.
Countries such as Hungary, France, and Belgium still import Russian gas, which accounts for 12% of EU gas imports, down from 45% before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The law will oblige Hungary and Slovakia, two countries that still import Russian oil, to develop national plans to end these imports by 2028.
The plans must be approved by a "qualified majority" of EU member states, i.e. at least 55% of them. After that, EU member states and legislators will negotiate the final version of the law.
At the same time, one of the unresolved issues is whether liquefied natural gas exports to Europe should be pre-approved prior to delivery, and whether their origin should be verified by customs authorities upon arrival at EU ports to ensure that they are not Russian.
France and Italy have said they support the overall plan but want shipments to be either pre-approved — if authorities can do so quickly — or checked by authorities upon arrival in the EU to ensure compliance with the ban, EU diplomats said.
The EU is also negotiating a new package of sanctions against Russia to ban LNG imports a year earlier, in January 2027.
