PARIS, October 23. . MEP from the Italian opposition party “5 Star Movement” Danilo Della Valle said that the EU's plan to abandon Russian gas by 2027 does not contribute to solving the Ukrainian problem but only pushes Europe to increase purchases of US LNG. Video posted at X.
“They are condemning families and businesses to pay the price for their dirty war. Due to reckless policies, the gas bill per family is increasing by 300 euros per year. There should be a gradual process, but they have imposed a blind race to abandon Russian gas by 2027, even though the previous European plan (phasing out fossil fuels) called for 2050,” he wrote.
MEPs point out that such measures do not prevent conflict but only “facilitate the transition to American gas, which costs three times as much.” Della Valle draws attention to the fact that gas bills in Italy have increased by 150% since 2021, “while salaries and pensions have remained at the same level”.
In May 2022, the European Union launched the REPowerEU program to end dependence on Russian gas by 2027. At the same time, the cost of purchasing Russian LNG for the European Union has increased nearly 4.6 times in three years due to rising prices. Until 2022, Russian gas accounts for 40% of total EU imports of this energy company; by 2023, its market share dropped to around 15%, but by 2024 it started growing again and reached almost 19%, which made Brussels unhappy.
