Germany Calls for EU to Limit Russia's Final 20% Energy Exports to Europe

Following the Russia-Ukraine conflict, there has been a surge in Europe's imports of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG), and EU energy ministers will meet on Thursday this week.

Prior to the EU ministerial meeting in Brussels this week, Germany has called for the EU to take more measures to restrict the last 20% share of Russia's energy exports to Europe.

According to a letter seen by the report, Germany, the largest economy in Europe, and the Czech Republic are asking the EU to establish a high-level working group to study methods for phasing out the remaining Russian natural gas supplies (including LNG) as well as oil and nuclear materials still being shipped to Europe.

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EU energy ministers are scheduled to meet on Thursday to assess the REPowerEU plan implemented after the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which stands for "re-energizing the EU," aiming to reduce dependence on Russian energy supplies.

German Economics Minister Robert Habeck and Czech Trade Minister Jozef Sikela wrote in a letter to Belgian Energy Minister Tinne van der Straeten: "For our energy sovereignty and security, we must continue to systematically reduce the import of natural gas, oil, and radioactive materials from Russia." Belgium is the rotating presidency of the EU.

Since Putin launched military operations in Ukraine, the EU has successfully reduced energy imports from Russia by 80%, and Russia was once the largest energy supplier to the EU.

Many countries in the EU still rely on Russian natural gas and radioactive materials to fuel nuclear power plants.

EU data shows that due to the disruption of Russian pipeline gas supplies after the conflict, the amount of LNG imported from Russia is expected to increase from less than 1.4 billion cubic meters before the conflict to about 18 billion cubic meters in 2023.

The EU has previously stated that it hopes to be free from dependence on Russian fossil fuels by 2027.

Last week, the EU adopted a series of measures that would effectively ban Russian LNG shipments without imposing new energy sanctions on member states.However, countries have indicated that they cannot take unilateral action, as this would only shift supplies to other EU nations. Any measures would need to consider the impact on energy security.

Since the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Spain's imports of Russian liquefied natural gas have doubled. Spain is also one of the countries calling on the European Commission (the EU's executive body) to provide more guidance on how to implement these measures.

Finland is one of the few countries that will comply with the ban, despite its imports of Russian natural gas being almost negligible.

As previously reported, the EU also proposed targeting several liquefied natural gas projects and banning the transshipment of Russian liquefied natural gas from the EU to third countries, in an attempt to prevent the country from benefiting from fuel exports.