The rise in the gas price in the countries of the European Union since the beginning of the year has amounted to 140%, but the European Commission intends to fully abandon gas purchases from Russia by the end of 2027, and also wishes to unite and bring the EU gas import process under its control.
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen stated this during the session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
“Since February the gas price in the EU has risen by 140%,” she stressed.
Von der Leyen noted that since the beginning of 2026 the EU has paid 100 billion euros more for gas imports than in 2025, without importing more than before.
She called for increasing investments in the field of green and nuclear energy production and for reducing gas purchases from Russia. According to her, before the unleashing of the war against Ukraine the gas imports from Russia was 45%, whereas now it has been reduced to 12%.
“The EU will bring it to zero by the end of next year,” the president of the European Commission promised.
Von der Leyen also spoke in favor of transferring all gas purchasing operations by EU countries to the European Commission or to a European single operator acting under the supervision of the Commission.
“We must unite gas demand and authorize one market operator to deal with all common purchases,” von der Leyen said.
