The feedback come as a rising refrain of EU leaders push for a rethink of the bloc’s relationship with Russia, which threatens to upend the implementation of the EU’s historic phase-out of Russian gas. The Commission is ready to announce an analogous ban on oil subsequent month.
“We’ve been far too long dependent on energy from Russia, making it possible for Putin to blackmail us with energy, making it possible for Putin to weaponize energy against us, and we are determined to stay on course with these issues,” Jørgensen added. “It would be a mistake for us to repeat what we did in the past. In the future, we will not import as much as one molecule from Russia.”
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has been among the many most vocal advocates for revived Russian commerce, calling on the EU to droop sanctions on Moscow final week. On Sunday, Belgian Prime Minister Bart de Wever stated the EU ought to negotiate with Russia to finally “regain access to cheap energy.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin has additionally supplied to resume gas commerce with the bloc, and Washington has quickly lifted its personal sanctions on the nation.
Jørgensen additionally dominated out long-term, structural modifications to EU energy coverage to cope with hovering costs, together with reforming the electrical energy market design, as POLITICO reported on Sunday.
Commission President Urusula von der Leyen echoed the sentiment earlier this month, saying returning to Russian oil and gas could be a “strategic blunder.”
