Published October 6, 12:15 PM UTC · Updated 1:46 PM

Von der Leyen tells EU Parliament: Russian gas imports to end by 2027

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in the European Parliament in Strasbourg on 6 October that the EU will end all imports of Russian gas by the end of 2027, building on a full ban on Russian LNG that takes effect on 1 January 2027. She framed the move against a backdrop of sharply higher energy prices since the start of the war in Iran and called on the EU to accelerate grid expansion and electrification to cut its reliance on imported fossil fuels.

Key points

Von der Leyen set a target of zero Russian gas imports by the end of 2027, in a speech to the European Parliament in Strasbourg on 6 October.
A full ban on Russian LNG imports to the EU takes effect on 1 January 2027, under the 21st sanctions package, with temporary exemptions for some existing contracts to third countries.
EU imports of Russian gas have fallen from 45% to 12% since 2022, but Europe spent a record 7.3 billion euros on Russian Arctic gas in the first eight months of 2026, more than in all of 2025.
Von der Leyen said gas prices in Europe have risen 140% since the end of February, diesel prices have doubled, and imported fossil fuels have cost Europe an extra 100 billion euros since the start of the war in Iran.
She said the EU needs to adopt its grid action package by the end of the year, noting that six times more renewable energy capacity is waiting to be connected to the grid than was installed last year.
Over 70% of EU electricity currently comes from domestic and clean sources, and the Electrification Action Plan aims to double electricity's share of final energy consumption by 2040.
Hungary's government has said it can meet the requirements for a full rejection of Russian gas within a year.

Why it matters

The speech sets a concrete deadline — the end of 2027 — for ending the EU's remaining reliance on Russian gas, after the share of Russian gas in EU imports has already been cut from 45% to 12% in four years. The phaseout is layered on top of a full ban on Russian LNG taking effect on 1 January 2027 under the 21st sanctions package, but Europe has continued to spend billions on Russian Arctic gas, and the war in Iran has driven up the cost of replacement supplies, complicating the final stretch. Von der Leyen paired the gas target with calls to speed up grid expansion and electrification, which she said could ultimately reduce EU fossil fuel imports by an estimated 260 billion euros a year.

What happened

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told the European Parliament in Strasbourg on 6 October that the EU will end all imports of Russian gas by the end of 2027. She framed the commitment as the next step after the 1 January 2027 ban on Russian LNG imports, which was adopted as part of the 21st sanctions package and includes temporary exemptions for some existing LNG contracts to third countries. She noted that four years ago, 45% of EU gas imports came from Russia, and that this share has since fallen to 12%, but that Europe still spent a record 7.3 billion euros on Russian Arctic gas in the first eight months of 2026, exceeding the total for all of 2025. She pointed to sharply higher energy prices since the end of February — gas up 140% and diesel doubled — and said imported fossil fuels have cost Europe an extra 100 billion euros since the start of the war in Iran. To underpin the phaseout, she called for urgent adoption of the EU's grid action package by the end of the year, noting that over 70% of EU electricity is already produced from domestic and clean sources, that the EU installed more than 80 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity last year, and that six times more capacity is waiting to be connected to the grid. She said the Electrification Action Plan aims to double electricity's share of final energy consumption by 2040, a shift she estimated could cut EU fossil fuel imports by 260 billion euros a year, while stressing that there is no universal solution and that member states need flexibility to respond to the crisis.

Background

Four years ago, 45% of EU gas imports came from Russia; that share has since fallen to 12%. Hungary's government says it can meet a full rejection of Russian gas within a year.