After months of delay and rising criticism over soaring LNG imports from Russia, the European Commission has announced its roadmap to eliminate Russian fossil fuels from the EU energy mix by 2027.

On Tuesday, Energy Commissioner Dan Jorgensen presented the long-awaited plan in Strasbourg, aiming to transform the bloc's political promises into binding measures.

"We've managed to put together a legislative package that will make sure that we will now get completely rid of Russian gas in our energy mix," Jorgensen told DW.

The plan proposes a two-phase approach: Banning new gas contracts with Russian suppliers by the end of 2025 and phasing out all remaining imports by 2027. However, with fossil fuel flows still strong and intra-EU divisions widening, experts remain skeptical.

The move comes amid a sharp uptick in Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports into the EU. Although overall EU fossil fuel imports from Russia have fallen since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, imports of Russian LNG and pipeline gas rose by 18% in 2024, according to the European statistics office Eurostat.

The financial stakes are high: The EU spent €23 billion ($26 billion) on Russian fossil fuels in 2024, directly contributing to the Kremlin's war budget. The new roadmap is set to stop that.

Pawel Czyzak, researcher at the UK-based energy think tank Ember,........

© Deutsche Welle