Russian gas and oil in Europe are done for good, Energy Commissioner tells Euronews

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Russian gas and oil in Europe are done for good, Energy Commissioner tells Euronews  EU legislators agreed this week on a historic deal to end energy dependency on Russian gas by 2027. Commissioner Jørgensen told Euronews' Europe Today morning show that Europeans must never allow Moscow to weaponise energy, and a Russian oil ban could be next.   READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2025/12/05/russian-gas-and-oil-in-europe-are-done-for-good-energy-commissioner-tells-euronews  Subscribe to our channel. Euronews is available on Dailymotion in 12 languages

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00:00Welcome to Europe Today.

00:02Lovely to have you with us this Friday.

00:03Now, of course, there was a big historic deal announced this week

00:07that the EU will fully phase out Russian gas imports by 2028.

00:11Tell us more.

00:12So, yeah, basically we've been in a very uncomfortable situation

00:17being dependent on energy from Russia.

00:21Obviously, it's not a nice thing to be dependent on energy from anybody,

00:24especially not from an enemy.

00:26Completely addicted, yeah.

00:27On the other hand, also, we have to acknowledge that buying energy from Russia

00:34has also had other effects.

00:36It has helped indirectly finance the war in Ukraine.

00:39So why did it take you so long?

00:41Yeah, so I used to be a member of the council as an energy minister from Denmark,

00:46and I was one of the ministers that argued from 22 that we needed to stop this

00:50as soon as possible.

00:51The reason why it hasn't been possible is that, unfortunately,

00:54not all countries agreed, because normally you would do this via sanctions,

00:58and then you can do it fast, but it demands unanimity.

01:01And we haven't had that support, unfortunately.

01:04So what this new commission decided was that, okay, we will choose another way to do it.

01:09So instead of using sanctions, we have used the prohibition,

01:12so we will actually ban the gas.

01:14This has another advantage also, which is that when there is a peace,

01:19which we hope there will be soon,

01:20that will not mean that we will then just start buying gas again.

01:23This will stand also after a peace agreement,

01:26which I think is good because we should never repeat the mistake

01:29of becoming dependent on Russia again.

01:31And what will the decision mean now for our viewers?

01:33Will their energy bills go up or down now this winter?

01:36No, we are ready for this decision.

01:38So we have brought down our consumption of gas in Europe overall,

01:43which is one of the reasons why we can do this without it leading to spikes in prices.

01:48But we are also working very hard with the countries that will be most affected

01:53to make sure that they have alternatives.

01:56But what about countries that are not on board with this phase-out?

01:58I'm thinking of Hungary, Slovakia.

02:00We saw Viktor Orban, the Hungarian prime minister, just recently in Moscow.

02:04He said he will take you to court for this decision.

02:06Well, to be honest, I don't really understand these countries.

02:10I think we should stand together shoulder by shoulder against Putin

02:17to help our friends in Ukraine.

02:20But OK, this is the way it is.

02:21We will still help the populations of Slovakia and Hungary,

02:26even if the governments do not support this legislation,

02:29to make sure that also the citizens in these countries, of course,

02:32have access to cheap energy.

02:34So the devil will be in the details of this deal.

02:36I mean, one thing is launching the historic deal this week,

02:39the announcement, and then, of course, implementing will be key.

02:42We've worked very hard on this for quite a long time.

02:45So it is something that is happening gradually,

02:47and it is something that we can do in a way that will not have big negative effects.

02:53It will, on the contrary, have a lot of positive effects,

02:55which is that we will no longer be able or have to live with being blackmailed by Russia.

03:02Russia has blackmailed certain countries in the European Union.

03:06We've seen Putin weaponize energy against us.

03:11That, of course, is another situation that is sustainable for Europe.

03:15So this is very, very good news, I think, for the European Union.

03:18And EU regulators will be kept busy making sure there's no circumvention here as well.

03:21That's very true.

03:23We need to be very strict in the way that we control this.

03:27It's also true that people have said, well, okay, this is the gas,

03:32and that's the most important thing.

03:33But what about the oil?

03:34Because there's also still some oil being imported in Europe.

03:38And also here we have said that needs to stop.

03:41So that's on your plate for next year.

03:42I will put forward very soon a legislative proposal to make that happen also.

03:48So in 2022, we got 45% of our gas from Russia.

03:51Now we get just over 10%, and that will go away completely.

03:55We got 27% of our oil in 2022 from Russia.

03:58Now we get 2% or 3%.

03:59So it's not a big amount, but still, that needs to go away completely also.

04:04And meanwhile, of course, you are diversifying to make sure that we don't run out as well here.

04:07And you're Daniel Orgensen, Commissioner there for Housing and Energy.

04:11Thank you so much for being our guest on Europe Today.

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