On Monday, October 20, EU Energy Ministers will meet for a critical discussion on the proposed REPowerEU Regulation, which aims to phase out Russian fossil gas and oil imports. Ahead of the meeting, together with a coalition of civil society organisations, we are publishing a Joint Statement calling on Member States to uphold the European Parliament’s ambitious position on the proposed ban on Russian gas imports.
The European Parliament’s position on the REPowerEU Regulation, confirmed on Thursday, October 16th in the joint ITRE/INTA Committees, is a good step to end the EU’s dependence on Russian fossil gas and, by extension, fossil fuels. However, some Member States – including Spain, France, Belgium, and Italy- played an ambiguous role in the Council’s negotiations, leading to loopholes introducing longer transition periods, dismissing Russian oil imports and creating exemptions for diversification plans. These delays risk prolonging Europe’s reliance on Russian energy and creating new fossil fuel dependencies (on US LNG) thereby undermining both EU energy security and credibility. On Monday, EU Energy Ministers must defend a strong, loophole-free Regulation that finally ends Europe’s fossil dependence on Russia and delivers on the initial promise of REPowerEU.
Esther Bollendorff, Senior Gas Policy Coordinator at Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe said: “EU Ministers must substantially increase their ambition on the proposed REPowerEU Regulation. Otherwise, every euro spent on Russian fossil fuel imports – still projected at €29 billion and equivalent to financing 900,000 drones – continues to fuel Russia’s war machine. Far too many Member States including France, Spain and Belgium still rely on direct imports of Russian gas. This must end, together with the fossil fuel era. The EU needs a complete phase-out of fossil gas and a rapid transition to a fully renewable energy system. For energy security reasons, the EU cannot replace one dependency with another. If diversification means moving from Russian gas pipelines to US tankers with fracked, methane-heavy LNG, it merely shifts the dependency across the Atlantic, it certainly does not eliminate it.”
Find and read the full statement here.
