Europe seeks urgent break from Russian gas. Teresa Ribera EU debates in Brussels!

European Energy Ministers were urgently convened on Monday in Brussels. They sought a response to the decision of Gazprom to cut off gas to Poland and Bulgaria. Thus, they mentioned a gradual stop of their oil purchases as part of a 6th package of sanctions against Moscow.

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The EU responds to Moscow

“We refused to pay for Russian gas in rubles and Russia cut off our supply, but we are safe”. This was assured by the Polish minister Anna Moskwa upon her arrival. “We advocate for an immediate oil and gas embargo,” she argued. It invites to start with oil, then gas. Europe must therefore rid itself of its dependence on Russian fossil fuels. Polish gas reserves “will be at 100% of their capacity for this winter”, American LNG (liquefied natural gas) “has started to arrive through Lithuania and we will get gas from Norway through Denmark”, she explained.

Russia has responded to European sanctions against its central bank. It imposed the obligation to open a ruble account for gas transactions. However, the contracts concluded are denominated in euros or dollars. In addition, the European Commission considers that the conversion mechanism imposed by Moscow makes it possible to circumvent European sanctions.

Poland and Bulgaria paid for their purchases in the currency of their contracts. They refused to open a second account in rubles. In retaliation, the Russian gas company suspended its deliveries. According to her, the settlement has not been made.

The energy ministers must consider to what extent the opening of a second account to allow conversion into rubles poses a problem with regard to sanctions, since Gazprom delivers gas, once received the payment in euros or dollars, explained a European source.

According to Kadri Simson, Commissioner for Energy: “No company and no country intends to open an account in rubles”.

Reducing dependency
The ministers are also expected to discuss a gradual end to oil purchases. Also, it is about Russian oil products. It is to dry up the European funding for the war led by the Kremlin in Ukraine. But no decision is expected at the end of their meeting, said Barbara Pompili, chair of the meeting.

“A new package of sanctions is being prepared, but it will not be the subject of this Energy Council. It will come in the coming days,” she explained. “We are working on a new sanctions package,” confirmed Commissioner Simson.

“A meeting of the college will be held on Tuesday in Strasbourg (on the sidelines of the Parliament session), and President Ursula von der Leyen will clarify what has been decided,” she said. The proposal is finalized. It will be adopted on Tuesday by the Commission, according to a European source.

“The issue of sanctions is not the competence of the Ministers of Energy, but falls under Foreign Affairs,” said the Spanish Minister Teresa Ribera. To reduce Europe’s dependence on fossil fuels “as quickly as possible”, the Spanish minister insisted on the need to provide the EU with interconnections for the transport of electricity and gas.

“We have significantly reduced our dependence on Russian oil and we have created the necessary conditions to be able to also support an embargo,” assured his German counterpart Robert Habeck.

In 2021, Russia supplied 30% of the crude and 15% of the oil products purchased by the EU. Annalena Baerbock explains that it is not about asking for an immediate embargo. In fact, such a measure would be impossible to implement. “We couldn’t last a single month,” she said.

Russia’s main importers of fossil fuels (gas, crude oil, oil products and coal) are Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and France.