In the final compromise reached by the European Parliament’s negotiators on the ‘REPowerEU’ regulation to phase out Russian gas, obtained by Agence Europe on Thursday 2 October, the idea remains to bring forward the date of the complete ban on these imports to 1 January 2027, one year earlier than the date in the European Commission’s initial proposal (see EUROPE 13683/9, 13681/21).
This proposal was supported by the Greens/EFA, Renew Europe, The Left, the EPP and the S&D.
The text also stresses the need to ban the temporary storage of this Russian gas. In addition, on the initiative of the Greens/EFA and S&D, the compromise includes a ban on Russian oil imports from 1 January 2026.
Article 15, which allows the ban to be reversed if one or more countries’ security of supply is at risk, has been deleted (see EUROPE 13686/4).
Regarding import verification and the authorisation process, Parliament’s negotiators indicated that importers should provide data to the customs authorities no later than one month before the planned date of import or temporary storage.
In addition, the text recognises that Member States should establish sanctions for infringements, including administrative fines, that are “effective, proportionate and dissuasive”, in order to ensure compliance with the regulation. The negotiators agreed on minimum administrative fines of 5% of the total worldwide annual turnover of the company concerned.
To see the compromise: https://aeur.eu/f/ird (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)