The president of the European Commission considered that this Wednesday, 3rd, is a “historic day” because the countries and MEPs of the European Union (EU) have agreed to stop importing Russian gas by 2027, speaking of a “turn of the page” in Russia’s energy dependence.
“Today is truly a historic day for our union. Yesterday [terça-feira] In the evening, we reached a provisional agreement on the Commission’s proposal to completely phase out Russian fossil fuels,” said Ursula von der Leyen, at a no-questions-asked press point in Brussels.
“We are turning that page and we are turning it forever. This is the beginning of a new era, the era of Europe’s true energy independence from Russia”, added the official.
On Tuesday evening, MEPs from the European Parliament’s Industry, Research and Energy and International Trade committees, as well as the Danish presidency of the EU Council, agreed to ban imports of Russian natural gas from the entry into force of the regulation in early 2026 for liquefied natural gas (LNG) on the spot market, and from 30 September 2027 for gas transported by pipeline.
Although some exceptions are allowed for Member States that face difficulties in reaching the required storage levels, by November 2027 at the latest the EU will eliminate all imports of Russian gas.
“Many believe that this would be impossible. Well, the numbers speak for themselves and let me give you some today: Russian gas imports, both LNG and by pipeline, fell from 45% at the start of the war to 13%; coal imports fell from 51% at the start of the war to zero today; and crude oil imports fell from 26% to 2% currently”, listed the leader of the community executive.
Portugal is one of eight EU member states that will have to find alternatives to Russian gas imports, given that the country still imports LNG from Russia, albeit in relatively small proportions.
“At the beginning of the war, we paid [na UE] Russia 12 billion euros per month for fossil fuels and now we have reduced it to 1.5 billion per month, which is still too much. Our objective is to reduce this value to zero”, said Ursula von der Leyen.
Also present at this press point, the executive director of the International Energy Agency, Fatih Birol, commented that “Russia was until now the main supplier of European energy and today this saga comes to an end”.
The European Commissioner for Energy, Dan Jørgensen, spoke of a “good day for Europe and Ukraine and a very bad day for Russia” as the EU “finally cuts off the tap for Russian gas”.
Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 and since then the EU has tried to reduce its dependence on Russian gas by diversifying supply and storage.
In 2024, Portugal imported around 49,141 GWh (gigawatt hours) of natural gas, of which approximately 96% was LNG. Of the total LNG, around 4.4% originated in Russia.
Furthermore, the Russian share of LNG imports in Portugal fell from around 15% in 2021 to 5% in 2024.