ROME - The European Union will spend more money buying Russian gas than helping Ukraine in 2024, Energy Commissioner Dan Jorgensen told La Repubblica.
"In 2024, we spent more on buying gas from Russia than the total amount of aid to Ukraine," he said, calling it "paradox".
He reaffirmed the European Commission's goal of completely moving away from Russian gas by 2027 and pointed to the need to develop alternative renewable and nuclear energy sources, "to avoid a new addiction".
"We have to be careful not to repeat the mistake of moving from one dependency to another, which is why we are diversifying our energy supply. Now our first gas supplier is Norway, followed by the United States, and at the moment we are happy with that. But while we are dependent on these supplies, we are trying to get them at a lower price and we are negotiating with the United States to increase volumes, but this is of limited duration because we intend to overcome this dependence through renewables and nuclear power," Jorgensen said.
In his view, this will help lower prices for European consumers. He also said that the goal remains to switch away from fossil fuels by 2050.
The European Commission has previously proposed that EU countries should be completely banned from buying pipeline gas and liquefied natural gas from Russia by the end of 2027. The ban will apply gradually from 1 January 2026.
TASS/gnews.cz - cik
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