European Commission Vice President Maroš Šefčovič said that if the gas infrastructure development continues and new partnerships are established, EU countries will be able to further reduce the volume of Russian gas imports in the coming months.
At present, a complete cessation of Russian gas supplies is practically impossible for the EU countries. This was stated by European Commission Vice President Maroš Šefčovič, Handelsblatt reports.
According to him, in 2022, Russian gas imports to the EU countries decreased from 150 billion cubic meters to less than 80 billion cubic meters.
According to forecasts, this year’s imports of Russian gas are expected to total only 40 billion cubic meters, including liquefied natural gas.
“We have significantly reduced our imports of Russian gas. But I would say that completely abandoning Russian gas is still an almost impossible mission,” he added.
Šefčović also emphasized that if the gas infrastructure development continues and new partnerships are established, the EU countries will be able to further reduce the volume of Russian gas imports in the coming months.
“In the case of gas imported through the EU’s common procurement platform, we are already making sure that it does not come from Russia,” Shefchovich said.
Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer believes that buying Russian gas is unpleasant from a moral point of view, but it is necessary to ensure the country’s energy security.
