European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says the EU is entering a “new era” without Russian fossil fuels, following an agreement to phase out all Russian gas imports by autumn 2027.
“This is the dawn of a new era — Europe’s complete energy independence from Russia,” she told reporters.
The late-night deal is intended to end a dependency the bloc has struggled to break since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It represents a compromise between EU governments and the European Parliament, which had pushed for a faster ban.
“We’ve done it: Europe is turning off the tap on Russian gas, permanently,” EU Energy Commissioner Dan Jørgensen wrote on X. “We’ve chosen energy security and independence. No more blackmail, no more market manipulation by Putin. We stand firmly with Ukraine.”
Under the agreement, long-term pipeline contracts — seen as the most sensitive because they can last for decades — will be banned from 30 September 2027 if gas storage levels allow, and in any case no later than 1 November 2027. Long-term LNG contracts will be prohibited from 1 January 2027, reflecting von der Leyen’s call for tougher sanctions.
Short-term contracts will be phased out even sooner: from 25 April 2026 for LNG and 17 June 2026 for pipeline gas.
The plan aims “to end dependency on Russian energy, following Russia’s weaponisation of gas supplies with significant effects on the European energy market,” the European Council said.
The timeline still requires final approval from the European Parliament and member states. Companies will be allowed to cite “force majeure” to break existing contracts due to the EU’s import ban.
The agreement also instructs the Commission to prepare a plan to end Russian oil imports to Hungary and Slovakia by the end of 2027. Both countries were granted exemptions from earlier oil sanctions, and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has continued to signal support for buying Russian hydrocarbons.
Nearly four years after the invasion of Ukraine, the EU is aiming to cut off a major source of revenue for Moscow. Russian gas has already shrunk from 45% of EU imports in 2021 to 19% in 2024. While pipeline flows have dropped steeply, Europe has partly offset the shortfall with LNG.
Russia remains the EU’s second-largest LNG supplier after the United States (45%), providing 20% of EU LNG imports in 2024 — about 20 billion cubic meters out of roughly 100 billion. Russian LNG shipments to the EU this year are still expected to total around €15 billion.