EU’s £240bn Russia dependency problem - So bad it checks itself into rehab for 3 years

EU has spent c.£240bn with Putin’s killing machine, feeding its habit, but promises to quit… by 2028

Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2025

The Commission was forced to admit it had used more of the Russia drug last year than in 2023

On Tuesday (06 May 2025) the EU Commission once again promised to kick its addiction to buying Russian gas and oil. As usual its announcement was couched in self-congratulatory and virtuous terms. Here is their headline:

“The EU will end its dependency on Russian energy by stopping the import of Russian gas and oil and phasing out Russian nuclear energy, while ensuring stable energy supplies and prices across the Union. The REPowerEU Roadmap, presented today by the European Commission, paves the way to ensure the EU's full energy independence from Russia.”

This all sounds very worthy, until you read the next paragraph. As any drug counsellor or family member of an addict will tell you, addicts lie. They can’t help it. They also promise they are going to kick the habit : “Soon..… But the time has to be right.”

The EU admits to a ‘relapse’

On Tuesday the EU Commission was forced to admit it had suffered a relapse and had ‘used’ more last year (2024) than in the previous year.

“Despite the significant progress achieved under the REPowerEU Plan and via sanctions since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in 2024 the EU saw a rebound in Russian gas imports. More coordinated actions are therefore needed, as the EU's overdependency on Russian energy imports is a security threat.”

The Commission then went on to outline how it is doing the equivalent of checking itself into rehab, by putting forward a plan to wean itself off its Russia habit. This involves a (planned) phased reduction over the next two-and-a-half years. Below we show the state of the addiction since the war began, compared to the UK.

Three years on from Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, today’s report shows how – despite supposed sanctions - the European Union has continued to prop up the Putin regime by buying billions of euros of Russia’s products. This has thereby provided him with hugely valuable foreign currency, without which Russia’s economy would have collapsed in a catastrophic manner, much worse than is already the case. It’s highly likely he would have fallen.

Above we provided the official EU-Russia total trade figures and compared them with the performance of the United Kingdom. In broad terms, the UK has applied sanctions which have been effective, whilst the EU has talked a great deal about applying sanctions but has continued to trade with Russia to a significant degree.

The announcement from the Commission on Tuesday, however, talked about energy supplies and specifically about gas, so next we look at the EU's purchases of gas from Putin's Russia.

The Commission specified its increased addiction to a certain type of Russian drug – gas

Although the Commission preferred not to provide the details of its increase in usage of Russian gas last year, Brexit Facts4EU is please to correct this oversight. Analysis of the detailed figures showed the following.

The EU’s plan for ‘Rehab’

In its announcement, the Commission set out its latest plan for a road to recovery. Given the opposition it will face from some member countries, this plan does not have much in the way of details.

“The Commission will work with the Member States to ensure that the EU-wide phaseout of Russian energy imports will be gradual and well-coordinated across the Union. They will be asked to prepare national plans by the end of this year setting out how they will contribute to phasing out imports of Russian gas, nuclear energy and oil.”

So for the remaining seven months of this year, EU countries buying increasing amounts of gas from Russia - and thereby helping to fund his killing machine in Ukraine – will only think about how to reduce their use. If they have their plans in place by the end of this year, then the objective of the Commission is to see a complete absence of gas imports from Russia - but not for a while yet.

“The Commission will further propose to stop all remaining imports of Russian gas by the end of 2027.”

This means that even if the Commission’s rehab programme is successful, it will not be free of Russian gas until 2028. If this happens, it will be five years after the UK stopped all gas imports from Russia, in 2022, when Putin illegally invaded Ukraine for the second time.

We wrote "IF the Commission's plan is successful" because there are several EU member countries which show no intention of reducing their imports of Russian gas and oil. The Commission is once again going to have a difficult time trying to act as a superstate, despite the fact that trade is supposed to be one of the 'sole competences' of the Commission.

The United Kingdom can hold its head high – thanks to Brexit

Without Brexit, the UK could not have pursued its own sanctions. International trade and the rules surrounding it are the exclusive preserve of the EU Commission. As a result of Brexit, however, the UK Government was able to act swiftly and decisively - unlike the EU - as can be seen from the charts above.

[ Sources: EU Commission | Office for National Statistics ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Thurs 08 May 2025

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