The European Commission announced on May 6th that next month, it will propose legal measures to eliminate all imports of gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Russia before the end of 2027. The measure, presented as a firm stance against Moscow following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, also aims to ban any new contracts or spot agreements before the end of 2025.
Energy Commissioner Dan Jorgensen declared that “since February 2022, we have spent more money buying fossil fuels from Russia than what we have given in aid to Ukraine,” and that this situation “cannot continue.” However, these kinds of announcements clash with the harsh reality: nearly 19% of the gas consumed by Europe still comes from Russia, through the TurkStream pipeline and LNG shipments, compared to 45% before the war.
The paradox is clear: while headlines are filled with commitments to energy independence, many European countries—including those presenting themselves as the ‘greenest’—have continued buying Russian gas, directly or indirectly Sanctions on natural gas have been opposed and vetoed by countries like Slovakia and Hungary that rely heavily on gas and for whom replacing it would make energy prices skyrocket.
The official discourse from Brussels insists that the solution lies in renewable energies. But according to Samuel Furfari, professor of energy geopolitics at the Free University of Brussels, this is nothing more than an ideological illusion. In statements to europeanconservative.com, Furfari explained that the major technical problem behind Spain’s April 28 blackout was the lack of “inertia” in the system, caused by an excess of intermittent renewables such as solar and wind power:
What happened shows that it’s not possible to sustain a grid only with solar and wind energy. When you have nuclear, gas, or coal, you have rotating machines that provide mass, inertia to the system. If there’s a problem, that mass helps absorb it. But with renewables, that doesn’t exist: if the frequency drops, everything shuts down.
Furfari is blunt: “We must put an end to the dream of relying solely on renewable energy. The blackout reminds us: it’s physically impossible.”
While Brussels bets on replacing Russian gas with American and Qatari gas, and on increasing the share of renewables, many countries around the world are going in the opposite direction. “We are seeing a genuine nuclear boom,” notes Furfari. Belgium, the Netherlands, Poland, Croatia, and Lithuania are all reactivating or expanding their nuclear capacity. Even countries that had previously banned nuclear research are now reversing course.
And it’s not just nuclear: globally, fossil and nuclear energy consumption remains five times greater than that of renewable energies. As Furfari emphasizes:
The world is not copying the European Union; it’s copying the countries that want to grow: more gas, more nuclear, more coal.
This calls the European Green Deal into question. Furfari himself warns that even within the Commission, they know the current model is unsustainable, but they cannot admit it publicly. Meanwhile, European families are paying the price of energy policies built on empty promises.
The most worrying aspect is that, behind the announcements about cutting Russian gas, no real energy sovereignty is being built. As Furfari explains: “Each country needs its own balanced mix; it cannot think that it will import electricity from another. More interconnections, yes, but that doesn’t replace the need to have your own conventional plants.”
Relying solely on renewables is risking more blackouts. And relying on American or Qatari gas is merely swapping one dependency for another. As the Kremlin ironically points out, Europe is reducing its competitiveness by preferring more expensive products while still buying Russian gas through other routes.
