The Danish Presidency of the EU Council hopes to reach an agreement between the Member States at the Energy Council meeting in Luxembourg on 20 October on the ‘REPowerEU’ Regulation to phase out Russian fossil fuels by 2028.
At least, this is what it says in its latest compromise proposal, dated Thursday 2 October and obtained by Agence Europe. In this document, the Presidency states that the latest revision is “now poised to receive broad support from a majority of delegations”, having been discussed at technical level on 10 occasions between the presentation of the proposal by the European Commission on 17 June (see EUROPE 13661/5) and 30 September.
The compromise text is now due to be debated by Member States’ ambassadors to the EU (Coreper) on Wednesday 8 October, and could be subject to amendments before 20 October.
Some points still being debated concern the ex ante authorisation process (see EUROPE 13718/1) and the broader legal framework (see EUROPE 13660/4).
Cooperation in the event of legal proceedings. While the legal certainty of the import ban has been questioned on several occasions, the new copy adds that Member States and the Union should cooperate closely on the implementation of the Regulation, “including in relation to possible dispute settlement procedures”.
The Danish Presidency goes on to state that, “in view of the recent practice of the Russian Federation to unilaterally change and impede agreed court and arbitration procedures, neither affected persons, nor the Union and Member States can be held liable for any judgments, arbitral awards, or other judicial decisions adopted under illegal procedures (...)”.
Parallel negotiations on the 19th sanctions package. On 23 September, the European Commission presented a ban on imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from 1 January 2027, as part of its 19th package of sanctions against Russia (see EUROPE 13713/1). This date is one year earlier than the deadline set in the proposed ‘REPowerEU’ Regulation.
While the sanctions package and the ‘REPowerEU’ proposal are both aimed at banning imports of Russian LNG, the Commission believes that they are complementary. On this basis, the Danish Presidency confirmed its intention to continue negotiations on the ‘REPowerEU’ Regulation, as planned.
Aim of Council-European Parliament agreement before the end of the year. The Presidency’s aim is to reach an interinstitutional agreement before the end of 2025, so that it can come into force at the beginning of 2026.
The European Commission initially proposed to ban new contracts (concluded after 17 June 2025) from 1 January 2026. The Danish Presidency ended up removing this deadline (see EUROPE 13709/5) and indicated that a final date would still have to be inserted and should apply six weeks after the entry into force of the Regulation to give gas suppliers time to adapt “their supply strategies”.
At the same time, the European Parliament’s negotiators have agreed on a compromise involving a complete phase-out of Russian gas imports by 1 January 2027, which will be put to the vote in Parliament’s Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) on 16 October (see EUROPE 13723/1).
To see the latest Danish Presidency compromise: https://aeur.eu/f/isi (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)