00:00The European Union will ban Russian gas pipelines and liquefied natural gas from
00:06entering the bloc by the end of 2026 and mid-2027. There will be exceptions for Hungary
00:13and Slovakia, which will be allowed to tap Moscow's gas in case of supply disruption.
00:19Despite this, Hungary has said it will challenge the law at the European Court of Justice.
00:23This has been a very short night for the negotiators, but today is indeed a historic day for our
00:32union. Last night, we reached a provisional agreement on the Commission's proposal to
00:37fully phase out Russian fossil fuels. We're turning that page and we're turning it for
00:44good. This is the dawn of a new era, the era of Europe's full energy independence from Russia.
00:53Breaking free from Russian energy imports has been a priority for the EU since Russia's invasion
00:58of Ukraine in 2022. Ever since, the EU has announced various measures to diversify energy
01:05suppliers and reduce reliance on Russia. As we slashed Russian imports of fossil fuels
01:11massively, we also cut the revenues that Russia uses to wage its war of aggression against Ukraine.
01:18We were paying to Russia 12 billion euros per month at the beginning of the war for fossil fuels.
01:29Now we're down to 1.5 billion per month, still too much. We aim to bring it down to zero.
01:36EU countries will now be required to develop national diversification plans with concrete actions and
01:41timelines to cease imports of Russian natural gas and oil by March 1, 2026.
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