EU Energy Commissioner Promises to Cut Fuel Ties with Russia

The EU has increased its imports of Russian LNG, while five countries remain dependent on RUSSIA for nuclear fuel, Dan Jorgensen said. He promised to develop a plan to "solve the rest of the problem" Dan Jorgensen

The new European Commissioner for Energy, Dan Jorgensen, called his “top priority” the final severing of the EU’s ties with Russia in the fuel sector, he said in an interview with the European version of Politico.

"The fact that we have been able to reduce our dependence to this extent is actually a great achievement," he said. "It is obvious to everyone that something new has to happen, because <...> everything is going in the wrong direction now."

Jorgensen specified that this was about increasing purchases of Russian liquefied natural gas. He also noted that five EU countries still depend on Russia for nuclear fuel. He promised to present a "concrete roadmap that will include effective instruments and means to solve the remaining part of the problem." The new European Commissioner's plan will focus "primarily on gas, but also on oil and nuclear energy," and is planned to be implemented within the first 100 days of his appointment (until mid-March).

After the start of the military operation in Ukraine, the EU introduced 14 sanctions packages against Russia, which also affected energy imports. The share of Russian gas in EU imports fell from about 45% to less than 15%, of which 8.7% is pipeline gas and 6.1% is LNG. According to the REPowerEU program, European countries plan to completely abandon Russian gas by 2027.

On December 11, the 15th EU sanctions package was agreed upon, which among other things includes restrictions on Russian tankers. Moscow considers the Western sanctions illegal and demands that they be lifted.

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