Plans for a phase out of Russian
fuels may be on back burner, but not dead. Things were
complicated, EU Energy Commissioner Dan J›rgensen told the
European Newsroom (enr) in an interview.
Not uncomplicated.
United States-led peace talks with Russia to end the war in
Ukraine have not caused the European Union to delay their plan
to phase out imports of Russian fossil fuels, the EU's Energy
and Housing Commissioner Dan J›rgensen told the European
Newsroom (enr) in an interview published on Wednesday.
"The plan has been postponed, but the effort is not," J›rgensen
told reporters.
"We are every day working on getting rid of Russian oil, but
it's not an uncomplicated matter."
The phase-out plan was originally scheduled for release on March
26, but was postponed by the Commission with no new date
specified. J›rgensen had vowed to bring forward the roadmap in
his first 100 days in office but this deadline has now been
missed.
Speculation has surrounded the move that the EU was anxious not
to disrupt the US-Russia peace talks on Ukraine with the future
of the bloc's economic relations with the Kremlin also in the
balance.
In the aftermath of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine,
the European Commission unveiled a major strategy called
RePowerEU to become independent of Russian fossil fuel imports
before 2030 and deny the Kremlin more revenue to wage war.
To do so, the EU plans to boost the production of renewable
energy, improve energy conservation and source new fossil fuel
imports from the US, Norway and others. Since then EU countries
have banned imports of coal and, with some exemptions, crude oil
from Russia and pledged to reduce other fossil fuel imports.
If the phase-out of Russian fossil fuel imports had been easy,
"we would have just done it three years ago", J›rgensen said.
The Commissioner stressed that while no new date for the
twice-delayed plan has been announced, the postponement would
not drag on for months.
Still feeding Putin's war chest.
As well as the global geopolitical position to consider, the
Commission must also take into account the EU member states that
"will be mostly directly affected by a full cut-off of Russian
gas", J›rgensen said, a reference to Germany, the bloc's largest
economy and still a major importer of Russian fossil fuels like
liquefied natural gas (LNG).
Two years on, the bloc has reduced imports of Russian gas
substantially. The share of the EU's gas supplies from Russia -
including both pipeline gas and bottled liquefied natural gas
(LNG) - has fallen from 45 percent in 2021 to 15 percent in
2023.
EU countries are also using less gas overall - meaning Russia's
remaining 15 percent share is of a much smaller whole. Norway
and the US have become the bloc's largest suppliers.
The Commissioner acknowledged the success of the energy shift
but pointed out that the EU has spent "more money in Europe
buying Russian fossils and energy than we've given Ukraine in
help and subsidies" in the same period.
"We've spent an amount that equals the cost price of 2,400 new
F-35 fighter jets," he said, pointing out that the EU is
"indirectly helping to fill Putin's war chest," referring to
Russian President Vladimir Putin. "So we need to do more to
become independent of Russian imports."
Slovak gas transit spat.
J›rgensen also stressed his commitment to resolving the dispute
between Slovakia and Ukraine over the transfer of Russian gas.
Since the start of the year, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico
has been in dispute with Ukrainian President Volodymyr
Zelenskyy, because he halted the transit of Russian gas, on
which Slovakia is dependent.
Ukraine has accused countries that still buy Russian energy of
helping fuel Moscow's war machine. According to Fico, Ukraine's
decision to stop transiting Russian gas is not just an empty
political gesture, but an extremely expensive move that will
cost the EU billions of Euro.
J›rgensen said figures calculated by the Commission for the cost
of Ukraine's decision were "not the same" as the Slovak
government's data but said that the Brussels authority was
always ready to assist EU member states should they raise a
problem.
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