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The EU must be open to resuming Russian gas imports in the event of a peace deal being brokered to end the war in Ukraine, Austria has said — one of few countries in the bloc to openly float such an option.
Brussels “must maintain the option to reassess the situation once the war has ended”, the Austrian energy ministry told the Financial Times.
The statement confirmed reports that Elisabeth Zehetner, the Austrian state secretary for energy, made this plea to her EU peers at a meeting in Luxembourg on Monday, said diplomats with knowledge of the discussions.
Vienna’s stance marks the first time since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 that an EU member state other than Hungary or Slovakia openly floats the resumption of Russian gas imports once the war is over.
The European Commission on Tuesday is set to propose banning any new gas contracts with Russia and terminating existing ones over the next two years — regardless of the outcome of peace talks.
Dan Jørgensen, the EU’s energy commissioner, said on Monday that a potential peace deal should “not lead to us starting to import Russian gas again”.
“That would be a very unwise decision because that would just be refilling Putin’s war chest with money. I think that would be to repeat the mistakes that we have done in the past,” he added.
Unlike Russian coal imports, which the EU banned in 2022 and a G7 price cap on Russian oil introduced in 2023, gas has not been subject to any EU restrictions — though most countries largely stopped importing the Russian fossil fuel, notably Germany, even as its economy was severely affected as a consequence. Imports of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) went up, with a record 16.5mn tonnes imported last year.
European officials have previously debated whether a return to Russian gas should be part of peace negotiations with Russia — with the commission firmly opposing such a step. Brussels is also proposing a ban on the Nord Stream pipelines connecting Germany to Russia — a measure endorsed by German chancellor Friedrich Merz as a way to quell any potential internal discussions about reverting to cheap Russian gas.
Austria has depended heavily on Russian natural gas for decades, importing around 80 per cent of its gas from the country before the war in Ukraine. This reliance was underpinned by long-term contracts between Russia’s Gazprom and Austria’s OMV, of which the government owns 31.5 per cent. OMV cut ties with Gazprom in a historic break last December following a long-running contract dispute.
Vienna has taken steps to diversify its supply, particularly by sourcing gas from other European countries such as Germany. The country, which is neutral politically but supports sanctions, has faced criticism for lagging in reducing this dependency since the war began.
Its neighbours Hungary and Slovakia, which remain dependent on Russian gas and which are led by Russia-friendly governments, have been vocal in their opposition to the commission’s plan to end all Russian fossil fuel imports by 2027.
Italy, which imported most Russian gas last year according to the think-tank Ember, previously also floated the option of resuming gas imports once the war is over, in discussions behind closed doors.
A spokesperson for the Italian energy minister declined to comment.
The commission plans to use trade law when proposing the complete ban on Russian gas, the FT has reported.
Jorgensen said that unlike the sanctions regime, which is subject to unanimous backing by the EU’s 27 governments every six months, the ban “will stand until someone decides to change it”.
Several countries have raised concerns that the legal basis for the ban will be strong enough to enable companies to call on force majeure clauses in their existing contracts without paying hefty penalties to Russia.
Jorgensen said he had “a very clear opinion from the legal team of the commission stating that since this will be a prohibition, a ban, the companies will not get into legal problems”.
Additional reporting by Amy Kazmin in Rome
