EU AGREE TO CUT OFF RUSSIAN NATURAL GAS SUPPLIES BY 2027 AMID TRUMP PRESSURE

Wed 03 December 2025:

The European Council and European Parliament reached a provisional agreement on Wednesday to gradually eliminate imports of Russian natural gas by 2027, Anadolu Agency reported.

“The regulation introduces a legally binding, stepwise prohibition on both liquefied natural gas (LNG) and pipeline gas imports from Russia, with a full ban from the end of 2026 and autumn 2027 respectively,” a statement issued by the council explained.

The provisional agreement aims to achieve a “resilient” and “independent” EU energy market.

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“The co-legislators confirmed that imports of Russian pipeline gas and LNG will be prohibited from six weeks after entry into force of the regulation, while maintaining a transition period for existing contracts,” the statement further said.

The regulation requires all member states to submit national diversification plans detailing how they will diversify gas supplies and what challenges they expect, with the aim of ending all Russian gas imports within the deadlines.

“At the same time, the agreement strengthens the Commission’s oversight by requiring member states to notify the Commission within one month of the regulation’s entry into force whether they have Russian gas supply contracts or national legal bans in place,” the statement added.

The council and parliament kept the “suspension clause,” which allows the regulation to be temporarily paused if sudden events threaten the energy supply of one or more member states.

Rules for when the commission can lift the import ban have also been tightened, limiting it to strictly necessary cases, situations where a member state has declared an emergency, and only for a short period and for short-term supply contracts.

The provisional deal awaits approval by the council and parliament before it can be formally adopted.

For months, U.S. President Trump has berated European Union countries for continuing to buy oil and gas from Russia, saying this helps fuel the Kremlin’s war machine and prolong the war in Ukraine that he has been at pains to end.

EU countries have continued to buy Russian gas, funneled via Turkey through the TurkStream pipeline, Russia’s share of EU gas imports fell from 40% pre-invasion to 11% in 2024. Last month, EU countries agreed to ban all imports of Russian gas from 2028. Hungary and Slovakia opposed the ban.

Donald Trump has said the US was prepared to impose energy sanctions against Russia – but only if all NATO countries stop buying Russian oil and implement similar measures.

“I am ready to do major sanctions on Russia when all NATO nations have agreed, and started, to do the same thing, and when all NATO nations stop buying oil from Russia,” the US president said on his Truth Social platform earlier this month.

And at the UN General Assembly in September, Trump said: “In the event that Russia is not ready to make a deal to end the war, then the United States is fully prepared to impose a very strong round of powerful tariffs, which would stop the bloodshed, I believe, very quickly.”

But for the measures to be effective, he said, “European nations, all of you gathered here, would have to join us in adopting the exact same measures.”

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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