At the General Affairs Council on Monday 26 January, European ministers approved the Interinstitutional Agreement with European Parliament on gradually phasing out Russian gas imports (pipeline and LNG) into the EU by autumn 2027 (see EUROPE 13767/5).
This ban is justified in the context of a regulation, and not a sanctions regime, which several countries have questioned: Hungary and Slovakia opposed the adoption (see EUROPE 13770/5). Budapest has even announced that it would refer the matter to the Court of Justice of the European Union once the text is published. Bulgaria abstained, considering in particular that the final text did not provide “sufficient guarantees against possible arbitration procedures and financial penalties for companies with long-term gas pipeline transit contracts and reserved capacities”.
In a statement, France insisted that this regulation should remain an “exceptional” case, stressing that the exclusive use of European sanctions “must remain the norm” for restrictive measures that the European Union decides to impose on third countries.
In an accompanying statement, the European Commission also committed to presenting a regulation “early in 2026” aimed at completely banning oil imports “by no later than the end of 2027”. A deadline for the proposal to ban Russian nuclear fuel has not been announced.
European Parliament approved the provisional agreement at its plenary session on 17 December (see EUROPE 13775/14). The regulation will enter into force one day after its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.
To see the rules and declarations: https://aeur.eu/f/ker; https://aeur.eu/f/kes; https://aeur.eu/f/ket (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)