Reuters, citing a European official, reports that the proposal has not been withdrawn, but its publication has been postponed to a later date. This decision was made in the context of growing international tensions that affect the energy raw materials market.
The hostilities conducted by the US and Israel in Iran are causing serious disruptions to oil supplies. This translates into an increase in this raw material on global markets. The European Commission's proposal would assume that a complete withdrawal from the import of Russian oil would be legally sanctioned and would take place no later than the end of 2027.
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A similar solution regarding Russian gas was previously adopted by the European Union, which committed to giving up this raw material by the end of 2027. The new regulations would have a limited impact on current supplies – as Reuters notes, in the last quarter of 2025, the share of Russian oil in imports to the EU was 1%.
Embargo on Russian oil in the EU. It was supposed to be announced after the elections in Hungary
According to the original plan, the European Commission's proposal was to be announced on April 15, three days after the parliamentary elections in Hungary. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban maintains good relations with Moscow despite the war in Ukraine and firmly opposes the embargo on Russian oil.
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Brussels aims to ensure that the import ban is sanctioned and applies even in the event of a possible lifting of sanctions after the end of the war in Ukraine. At the end of January, only Hungary and Slovakia continued to import Russian oil. At that time, as Kiev reported, a Russian drone attack damaged the transmission infrastructure in Ukraine, which led to the interruption of supplies. Budapest and Bratislava accused Ukraine of deliberately delaying the resumption of gas flows.
