The EU's Continued Dependencies on Russian Energy. A Clean Break?

Authors:

  • Emil Wannheden

Publish date: 2024-06-14

Report number: FOI-R--5621--SE

Pages: 38

Written in: English

Keywords:

  • EU
  • Russia
  • trade
  • energy

Abstract

This report uses trade data to analyse the EU member states' dependency on energy trade with Russia. The report finds that since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the EU has successfully reduced its overall dependence on Russian oil and natural gas. However, some EU countries, namely Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia, are still dependent on either Russian oil, natural gas, or nuclear fuel. While some of these dependencies are diminishing, others are not. Ending the remaining dependencies requires some investment in adaptation of infrastructure. From a technical and economic standpoint, it should be relatively easy to meet the EU Commission's 2027 deadline to end the EU member states' imports of Russian energy. Any challenges in meeting this deadline will be chiefly related to a lack of political will, rather than technical or economic obstacles.