Overview
- The Council approved a negotiating mandate for a binding phase‑out of Russian gas imports culminating in a full prohibition on 1 January 2028.
- Imports will be barred from 1 January 2026 with narrow exemptions for existing contracts, allowing short‑term deals signed before 17 June 2025 to run until 17 June 2026 and long‑term agreements until 1 January 2028.
- All gas deliveries will require prior authorization, with at least one month’s notice for Russian or transitional supplies and five days for non‑Russian, mixed LNG cargoes must document shares with only non‑Russian volumes allowed onto the EU market, and the Council also eased customs paperwork for non‑Russian gas compared with the Commission’s draft.
- The proposed law obliges member states to submit national diversification plans unless they have already halted Russian gas imports, strengthens monitoring to block transit circumvention, and tasks the Commission with reviewing implementation within two years of entry into force.
- EU officials said the measure rests on trade law rather than sanctions, countering claims that it required unanimous approval.