France and Belgium refused to support the European Commission’s plan to refuse to import Russian gas until 2027, demanding more information about the economic and legal consequences of this step. This is reported by the American edition of Politico.
France, according to the publication, favours a strategy to find alternative sources of gas – we are talking about a plan to replace Russian fuel supplies with Qatari products.
The country’s energy minister, Marc Ferracci, said that France “supports the strategy of reducing risks from Russian fossil fuels,” but a ban at the European level would mean that “no one can import liquefied natural gas” from Russia.
He also expressed fears that private firms could face Russian lawsuits over cancelled contracts. For example, France’s TotalEnergies is bound by a contract with Novatek until 2032 and owns a 20 per cent stake in the Yamal project, which operates an LNG plant in Siberia.
Belgium, for its part, wants a report detailing the economic impact before making a decision. Both countries are the largest buyers of Russian liquefied natural gas in the European Union.
Two other major importers, Spain and the Netherlands, have told the publication that they are ready to support a European Commission initiative that would ban short-term gas purchases this year and long-term contracts until 2027. The positions of these four countries will be crucial for the European Commission.
France, Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands imported 16.77 million tonnes of Russian LNG last year, accounting for 97 percent of total EU imports and more than half of Russia’s global exports, according to Kpler.