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EUROPE SETS 2027 DEADLINE TO END RELIANCE ON RUSSIAN OIL AND GAS

London (CNN Business) Europe has given itself just five years to break its addiction to Russian oil and gas.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Friday that EU leaders had agreed to spend the next two months drafting proposals for eliminating the bloc's dependency on Russian energy imports by 2027.

"By mid-May we will come up with a proposal to phase out our dependency on Russian gas, oil and coal by 2027, backed by the necessary national and European resources," Von der Leyen said after an emergency summit of EU leaders called to discuss Russia's war in Ukraine.

The European Union has promised to diversify its energy supplies before, notably back in 2014 when Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine. Little progress was made, partly because Germany — Russia's biggest energy customer in Europe — didn't want to rock the boat with Moscow.

But President Vladimir Putin's decision to order last month's invasion changed all that. Within days, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz had killed off the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, a project co-financed by German companies that would have vastly increased Russia's capacity to send gas directly to Europe, bypassing Ukraine.

And earlier this week, Von der Leyen and her officials outlined plans to slash EU gas imports from Russia this year by finding alternative suppliers, speeding up the shift to renewable energy, reducing consumption through energy efficiency improvements and extending the life of coal and nuclear power plants that would otherwise have been shut down.

Frans Timmermans, EU climate policy chief, said Tuesday that Europe could replace 100 billion cubic meters of Russian gas imports by the end of 2022.

"That is two thirds of what we import from them," he told reporters. "Two thirds by the end of this year. It's hard, bloody hard but it's possible if we're willing to go further and faster than we've done before," he added.

The European Union depends on Russia for about 40% of its natural gas. Russia also supplies about 27% of its oil imports, and 46% of its coal imports. Taken together, that trade is worth tens of billions of dollars a year to Russia.

EU leaders have made clear this week that the bloc can't yet join the United States in banning Russian oil, because of the impact that would have on households and businesses already grappling with record high prices. A giant fertilizer company this week slashed European production because of record high natural gas prices.

But Europe knows it needs to act fast to reduce the potential for Moscow to use energy as a weapon in the economic warfare unleashed by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Russian deputy prime minister Alexander Novak said Monday Russia could cut off the supply of gas to Germany via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline in retaliation for Berlin blocking the new Nord Stream 2 pipeline project.

Speaking alongside EU Council President Charles Michel and French President Emmanuel Macron after the summit in Versailles, near Paris, von der Leyen said the Commission would bring forward a proposal requiring underground gas storage facilities to be 90% full by the beginning of October each year.

"This will be our insurance policy against supply disruption," she said.

CNN Business
Lalasticlala
Mynd44

Lol

Why not end it this afternoon if you really hate Russia that much?

5 mores years? jokers

No one hate Russia. Russia is a wonderful country and its people are nice. But you see that Putin of a president, he's the only one trying to destroy that country.

Malory:
Why not end it this afternoon if you really hate Russia that much?

OkpaNsukkaisBae:
5 mores years? jokers

The jokers plan ahead to develop and secure their country.
You serious people are only interested in merriment and what you can eat today.

Well, by their fruit we can tell which strategy works best.

Russian deputy prime minister Alexander Novak said Monday Russia could cut off the supply of gas to Germany via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline in retaliation for Berlin blocking the new Nord Stream 2 pipeline project.

Stop talking and act already!

Good move. Economic war is the best in 21st century. Putin doesn't have sense to engage in Economic war. If West/EU had imposed heavy sanctions on Russia since annexation of Ukraine, there may not be presence crisis.

And they think Russia won't cutoff Supply before 2027.
You don't tell your enemy your next move.

Life is balanced.... God distributed these minerals for cohesion purposes. You can't cheat nature.

If you cut off Russian supply of gas and crude, their would be over saturation in the world market, which would lead to the decrease in prices that other nations would benefit immensely alongside reduce their cost of living while enabling savings, cashflow and development that weans developing countries from the shackles of europe in other trades. All at the expense of europe's secondary manufactured or stored gas that was bought at a price much higher than the current price.

Pennywise pound foolish..

Kingpin1000:
And they think Russia won't cutoff Supply before 2027.
You don't tell your enemy your next move.

Russia will die without the money from gas. Russia is currently selling oil to India with discount.

Esseite:
Life is balanced.... God distributed these minerals for cohesion purposes. You can't cheat nature.

If you cut off Russian supply of gas and crude, their would be over saturation in the world market, which would lead to the decrease in prices that other nations would benefit immensely alongside reduce their cost of living while enabling savings, cashflow and development that weans developing countries from the shackles of europe in other trades. All at the expense of europe's secondary manufactured or stored gas that was bought at a price much higher than the current price.

Pennywise pound foolish..

I guess you are a Professor of Economics from Harvard to call their moves foolish. Clap for yourself.

You don't tell EU where to buy gas!!

There won't be saturation. Putin has destroyed Russia economically. No sale of Russian gas to EU means less money for Kremlin.

Russia is not regarded as the West's enemy... Some of you folks sum every disagreement between two people to enmity. Not so!

The West is a free world - practicing democracy while Russia is autocratic... So they both have ideology conflict not necessarily hatred.

Kingpin1000:
And they think Russia won't cutoff Supply before 2027.
You don't tell your enemy your next move.

He doesn't have a background knowledge of why the West prefer Russian gas.... It doesn't mean the West can't buy from other countries... But the challenge is proximity!

jmoore:
I guess you are a Professor of Economics from Harvard to call their moves foolish. Clap for yourself.

You don't tell EU where to buy gas!!

There won't be saturation. Putin has destroyed Russia economically. No sale of Russian gas to EU means less money for Kremlin.