On Wednesday night, MEPs from the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy and Committee on International Trade and the Danish Presidency of the Council agreed to ban imports of Russian natural gas from the entry into force of the Regulation in early 2026 for spot-market liquefied natural gas (LNG), with a ban for pipeline gas from the 30th of September 2027.
The agreed text also lists the maximum penalties to be enforced by member states against operators for infringements of the regulation.
Preparing for a ban on oil imports
During negotiations, MEPs pushed for the prohibition of all imports of Russian oil, and secured a commitment by the European Commission to develop a legislative proposal on such a ban to be tabled in the beginning of 2026, for a ban to be effective no later than by the end of 2027.
MEPs worked to strengthen the conditions under which temporary suspension of the import ban can occur, in emergency situations in relation to EU energy security.
To close loopholes and mitigate the risk of rules circumvention, operators will have to provide customs authorities with stricter and more detailed evidence of the country of production of their gas before its import or storage.
Quotes
“This is 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. European Parliament had key priorities to accelerating the timeline for banning pipeline gas as much as possible, prohibition on long-term LNG contracts by a full year earlier and prevent the rules from being circumvented. Now, we must act without delay to finalise this agreement and turn our attention to oil imports, where we will take the European Commission at its commitment to advance a legislative proposal early next year” said lead MEP for the Industry, Research and Energy Committee (ITRE), Ville Niinistö (Greens/EFA, Finland).
“Tonight’s agreement sends a clear and powerful message: Europe will never again be dependent on Russian gas. This is a major achievement for the European Union and a historic turning point in European energy policy. We have strengthened the European Commission’s initial proposal by introducing a pathway towards a ban on oil and its products, ending long-term contracts sooner than originally proposed, and secured penalties for non-compliance” said Inese Vaidere (EPP, Latvia), lead MEP for the International Trade Committee.
Press point
The co-rapporteurs will hold a press point on Wednesday, at 10.30, next to room ANTALL 2Q1, following the presentation of the outcome of the negotiations in the ITRE committee. You can follow the webstreaming of the press point here.
Next steps
The informal agreement will now have to be endorsed by both Parliament and Council to become law. The Industry, Research and Energy and the International Trade committees will jointly hold a vote on the provisional agreement on 11 December, ahead of the the full Parliament vote during the 15-18 December plenary session.
Background
This legislative proposal is a response to Russia’s systematic weaponisation of energy supplies, a pattern documented over nearly two decades and escalating with the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The 2022 invasion came with further deliberate market manipulation, including Gazprom’s unprecedented underfilling of EU storage facilities and abrupt halts to pipelines, causing energy prices to spike by up to eight times their pre-crisis levels.
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