Wednesday, December 3, 2025 - EU lawmakers and member states have reached a political agreement to ban all imports of Russian gas into the European Union by autumn 2027, marking one of the bloc’s most significant steps yet to sever its energy ties with Moscow. The deal, announced early Wednesday, December 3, represents a compromise between EU governments and the European Parliament, which had pushed for an earlier cutoff date.
“Today, the Council presidency and the European Parliament’s
representatives reached a provisional agreement on the regulation to phase out
imports of Russian natural gas,” the European Council said in a statement.
According to the Council, the move is intended “to end dependency on Russian
energy following Russia’s weaponisation of gas supplies with significant
effects on the European energy market.”
Under the agreement, long-term contracts for Russian
pipeline gas will be banned from November 1, 2027, at the latest, while
long-term LNG contracts will be prohibited from January 1, 2027. Short-term
contracts will also be phased out earlier, with the ban taking effect from
April 25, 2026, for LNG and from June 17, 2026, for pipeline gas.
The timeline still requires formal approval from both the
European Parliament and the EU’s member states, but officials say the political
consensus marks a decisive shift in Europe’s energy strategy after nearly three
years of efforts to reduce dependence on Russian supplies following the war in
Ukraine.
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