European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday lauded a deal reached overnight that aims to end all EU imports of Russian gas by autumn of 2027.
"This is the dawn of a new era, the era of Europe's full energy independence from Russia," she told journalists in Brussels after the governments of member states and representatives of the European Parliament agreed on phasing out imports.
The EU has been trying to reduce its dependence on Russian energy since Moscow's 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Under the latest plan, for short-term contracts concluded before June 17, 2025, the ban on Russian gas imports will take effect from April 25 next year for liquefied natural gas (LNG) and June 17 for pipeline gas.
For long-term LNG contracts, the ban will apply from Jan. 1, 2027, in line with the EU's 19th sanctions package.
Long-term pipeline gas contracts will be phased out starting Sept. 30, 2027, contingent on gas storage targets being met, and at the latest by Nov. 1, 2027.
Von der Leyen stressed that the share of Russian gas imports had already dropped from 45% to 13% since the Ukraine war began.
The EU's strong dependency on Russian fossil fuels led to soaring energy prices in Europe and supply difficulties.
"As we slashed Russian imports of fossil fuels massively, we also cut the revenues that Russia uses to wage its war of aggression against Ukraine," von der Leyen said.
"We were paying to Russia 12 billion euros ($14 billion) per month at the beginning of the war for fossil fuels. Now we're down to 1.5 billion euros per month," she said, adding that the current payments were "still too much" and that she was aiming to fully end fossil fuel purchases from Russia.
The director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), Fatih Birol, praised the agreement as "historic" but warned the EU not to overly rely again on a single supplier.
"We all want to learn a lesson from this experience," Birol said, speaking alongside von der Leyen.
"The lesson we learn is not to have too much concentration of energy from one single country," he said.
"In the energy world, over-reliance can quickly turn into major geopolitical vulnerabilities," he warned.
"This is a big win for us and for all of Europe," said Danish Climate Minister Lars Aagaard. "We have to put an end to the EU's dependence on Russian gas, and banning it in the EU permanently is a major step in the right direction."
Finland's Ville Niinisto, lead Member of the European Parliament for the Industry, Research and Energy Committee (ITRE), called the agreement a "historic outcome."
"The EU is taking giant steps towards a new era free of Russian gas and oil. Russia can never again use fossil-fuel exports as a weapon against Europe," he said.
Hungary and Slovakia are the only EU countries that still import crude oil from Russia. Both are also highly dependent on Russian natural gas supplies and have repeatedly blocked far-reaching plans to support Ukraine in its defensive struggle against Russia.
According to the agreement struck overnight, the European Commission is to present a plan next year for phasing out Russian oil exports to Slovakia and Hungary by the end of 2027.
The new rules are intended to supplement existing sanctions with import restrictions and ensure that EU countries become independent of energy imports from Russia in the long term and thus less vulnerable to blackmail.
The agreement is also intended to create legal certainty. While sanctions against Moscow must be renewed every six months and require unanimity among member states, the legal changes now envisaged are meant to apply permanently.
The agreement contains a safety clause in case the security of supply of one or more member states is seriously threatened. In this case, the commission could allow the affected countries to suspend import bans on gas. Only if a member state declares a state of emergency are temporary deliveries permitted.
According to official figures, EU countries still imported 52 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas from Russia in 2024, which corresponded to around 19% of all imports. In addition, they imported 13 million metric tons of crude oil and more than 2,800 tons of uranium in enriched form or as nuclear fuel.
According to data from the EU statistics authority Eurostat, the EU imported LNG worth almost 4.5 billion euros ($5.25 billion) from Russia in the first half of 2025.
Last year, natural and processed gas worth 15.6 billion euros was imported from there. By comparison, gas worth 19.1 billion euros came from the U.S.
