Provisional agreement of all EU institutions on import ban on Russian lng

BRUSSELS – The European Commission made that proposal in September. The import of Russian gas via pipelines will be banned as of 30 September 2027, it has been decided.

It concerns a provisional agreement, on which representatives of the member states and the party groups from parliament have voted. A majority of the EU Parliament and the member states must still officially approve the import ban. Parliament will do so in the plenary session, the member states in a meeting of ministers.

The Commission also wants to have ended all oil imports by the end of 2027 at the latest. The Commission will present a legislative proposal on this early next year, says President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen. “Europe is shutting off the tap of Russian fossil fuels once and for all,” she said.

EU member states must have submitted plans by 1 March explaining how they intend to compensate for the gas and oil they previously obtained from Russia. The Commission will take three months to evaluate those plans, after which it will see whether any additional measures are needed.

Countries that do not manage to suspend all imports of gas via pipelines by 30 September will be given one extra month.

It is still unclear what the import ban means for Hungary and Slovakia. Those EU countries have indicated several times that they do not want to move away from Russian fossil energy. They have also not agreed to plans for an import ban in recent times.

(3 December 2025)