On Thursday, the Committees on Industry, Research and Energy and on International Trade approved draft plans to ban imports of Russian natural gas – both pipeline and liquefied natural gas (LNG) – from 1 January 2026, with limited exceptions for existing short-term contracts (until 17 June 2026) and long-term contracts (until 1 January 2027), provided they were concluded before 17 June 2025 and remain unamended.
From the same date, the MEPs want to prohibit all imports of Russian oil, including petroleum products originating from Russian crude oil, while requiring prior customs authorisation and verification of the country of production for such imports.
Additionally, the text explicitly targets circumvention risks – such as re-labelled imports, shadow fleets, and transit via third countries – by mandating origin certification for oil pipelines, quarterly audits, and a list of high-risk LNG terminals, to be managed by the Commission.
This legislation comes in response to Russia’s systematic weaponisation of energy supplies, a pattern documented over nearly two decades and escalating with the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The 2022 invasion came with further deliberate market manipulation, including Gazprom’s unprecedented underfilling of EU storage facilities and abrupt halts to pipelines, causing energy prices to spike to up to eight times their pre-crisis levels.
The legislation was adopted by 83 votes to 9, with 1 abstention. MEPs also voted by 84 votes to 7, with 1 abstention, to open negotiations with the Danish Presidency of the Council. Parliament’s plenary chamber will be notified of the decision during its forthcoming session of 20-24 October.
The Question is: Do European Parliament are interest of the people, where EU-Russian war causing energy prices to spike to up to eight times their pre-crisis levels.
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