The EU’s annual State of the Energy Union report shows that Europe remains dependent on Russia for almost a fifth of its gas imports.
Despite the huge drop in supply Since the Kremlin began its all-out war against Ukraine in 2022, the EU remains dependent on Russia for almost a fifth of its gas supplies. Although the European Commissioner for Energy, Kadri Simson, was reluctant when asked if the bloc was willing to include it in a sanctions regime increasingly broader.
“We continue fully committed to completing the phase-out of Russian gaswhich can be done without jeopardizing the security of Europe’s energy supply,” Simson told reporters in Brussels when presenting the annual report on the state of the EU’s Energy Union.
It recognizes that although Russian gas consumption has fallen sharply from 150 billion cubic meters, or 45% of all imports before the invasion, the country still depended on Russia for 18% of imports in the eight months until August. This is more than just the total imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the US, which means that Russia remains Europe’s second largest supplier after Norway.
Asked whether the Commission plans to impose sanctions on Russian imports of natural gas, especially now that trans-Ukrainian transfers are to cease at the end of the year, in any case as a transit agreement expires, Simson said: Russia had already lost any leverage it previously had over the EU by controlling its increased gas supplies.
“The volumes that some companies continue to receive from Russia no longer allow them to blackmail us: there are alternatives available,” Simson said, noting that European gas warehouses were already full long before the start of winter.
The Community Executive has been preparing for when the transit agreement between the Russian Gazprom and Ukraine, he explained. “We have found alternative supply routes, and Member States or their companies that continue to receive gas from Russia [han tenido] two years more compared to other companies to which Russia decided to cut supplies… in 2022.”
The Commission was determined to ensure that Russian gas that stops arriving via Ukraine – depriving kyiv of transit fees – is not simply rerouted along other routes. “This is a work in progress,” Simson said, again without specifying whether sanctions were imminent.
“My biggest mission is to encourage companies that continue to receive Russian gas via pipeline… to opt for more predictable alternatives,” said the commissioner.
Simson acknowledged, however, that companies can continue to legally import from Russia as long as there are no sanctions. He urged governments to “make good use of the tools” agreed during a recent review of gas market rules that allow for unilateral bans on Russian LNG imports, whichwhich no EU member has yet applied.
An “acceleration” for renewables
The report presented today has been prepared annually since 2015 and takes its name from the Energy Union initiative launched a year earlier by Donald Tusk, the now Prime Minister of Poland. It was created to respond to energy security concerns raised by Moscow’s previous measures to eput political pressure on Ukraine and Europe by strangling gas supplies.
Simson points out in particular the need for accelerate wind turbine deployment, solar panels and other infrastructure renewable energy if the EU wants to meet its goal of 42.5% green energy by 2030. Both sources surpassed fossil fuels in the bloc’s electricity generation mix last year.
France is the only EU country that has not yet met its 20% renewable energy target by 2020, and the Commission is “in dialogue” with Paris on this issue, said Simson, who did not want to specify whether a procedure was being studied. formal infringement. In more general terms, the Estonian politician said that the Community Executive supported greater use of power purchase agreements and “contracts for difference” supported by the State to further accelerate the transition, as recommended this week by the Draghi report on European competitiveness.
“This report is a clear message to the Commission and EU states: It’s time to get serious about implementation“said Luke Haywood, head of climate and energy policy at the European Environment Office, an umbrella group of NGOs. “Working groups should be created in the new mandate to assess progress on energy savings, renewable energy and electrification.”
