EU lawmakers seek to accelerate rejection of Russian gas – media
The European Parliament is considering proposals to speed up the EU's phase out Russian gas by one year, to January 2027, Reuters said citing documents seen by the agency.
"European Union countries and lawmakers are preparing to negotiate the EU's plan to ban imports of Russian gas - with the starting point a legal proposal the European Commission made last month to phase out all Russian gas imports by January 1, 2028. The Parliament's lead lawmakers on the Russian gas ban have each proposed that this deadline is moved forward to January 1, 2027, documents detailing their amendments to the Commission proposal showed," the report reads.
The proposals are by EU lawmakers Inese Vaidere from the centre-right European People's Party, the biggest lawmaker group in the Parliament, and Ville Niinisto from the Greens.
EU diplomats have said it is unlikely that governments will agree to extend the ban on Russian gas supplies by a year, but MEPs could use the demand as leverage to push for other changes in the talks.
For example, Vaidere has also proposed a requirement for governments to impose penalties on companies that violate the ban, potentially including by revoking licences for energy trading. Niinisto wants a full ban on Russian oil imports from January 1 2027, which the European Commission did not propose.
The European Parliament will vote in the autumn on whether to confirm its position for negotiations with EU countries on the ban.
The final measures need the approval of Parliament and a qualified majority of EU countries – meaning they cannot be blocked by EU members Hungary and Slovakia, which still import Russian gas through the pipeline and oppose the EU plans.