European Commission would prefer to end Russian energy supplies sooner - spokesperson
BRUSSELS. Sept 18 (Interfax) - Ending Russian energy imports by the end of 2027 remains a goal of the European Commission, but Brussels would prefer this goal attained sooner, European Commission spokesperson Anna-Kaisa Itkonen said.
"As we have been saying all along, since we launched the Repower EU plan in 2022 that the sooner the better, and this remains our position," Itkonen told a briefing in Brussels on Thursday.
She was asked whether 2027 remains in force for the European Commission as the deadline for ending purchases of Russian fossil fuels after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced an intention to speed up the process of phasing out these imports.
"We made a proposal in June this year. It has timelines for both short-term contracts and long-term contracts. And the year 2027 is indeed one of them, and there is for long-term contracts January 1, 2028. These dates were in the proposal," Itkonen said.
It is important to follow the democratic procedures of passing the European Commission's bills, she said. "We make the proposal, and it is now for the Council, meaning the member states, as well as the European Parliament to give the final shape with their amendments to this proposal. From the [European] Commission side, we always said that the sooner the phase-out, the better," Itkonen said.
When asked additionally whether the EU would buy more natural gas under its trade agreement with the U.S. than it did from Russia, Itkonen said that the agreement should serve to get rid of Russian energy imports.
"The logic of the political commitment that we concluded or made with the Americans as part of the trade agreement in summer has an energy part to it, which basically says that we would be buying energy products, commodities worth $750 billion for the span of three years. This does not mean that all this money will be used on buying LNG, for example. The logic behind it is that we will be phasing out Russian LNG, for example, Russian fossil fuel, full stop. Our industry still needs natural gas for the foreseeable years. So these volumes that we no longer buying from Russia need to come from somewhere," Itkonen said.
The U.S. already played an important role in providing the EU with energy in 2022 when the EU was forced to look for alternative sources, and during President Donald Trump's second term sees a potential for increasing these shipments, she said.
"But again, the point is not that this $750 billon will be used for buying LNG. It includes oil, it includes nuclear fuel and nuclear equipment as well," Itkonen said.
After her phone call with Trump on September 16, von der Leyen said on X that the EU would propose speeding up the process of phasing out Russian fossil fuel imports.
