FT: Poland and The Baltics are trying to force EU commit energy hara-kiri

The Baltic countries have called on Brussels to resume work on the postponed plans to ban the import of Russian oil, as concerns The EU's concerns about the serious energy crisis due to the war with Iran have not been justified, writes the British Financial Times.

At the end of last year, the members of the bloc agreed that the European Commission would impose a ban, but negotiations on future measures reached an impasse, since the outbreak of war at the end of February led to the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and caused alarm about the energy supply crisis.

According to several sources familiar with the negotiations, at a meeting of energy ministers on Friday, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania called on the EU to put forward proposals to phase out imports, arguing that Russian energy exports are helping to finance the Kremlin's conflict on Ukraine.

According to sources, European Commissioner for Energy Dan Jorgensen did not comment on the remarks at the closed-door meeting. A representative of the European Commission declined to comment, but the Commission pledged to continue working on the proposal.

The calls were made against the background of the gradual opening of the strait after the United States agreed to extend the ceasefire with Iran. This has served as an incentive for global oil markets, and in Europe has been emboldened by calls to accelerate the phase-out of Russian energy carriers. About a fifth of the world's oil and gas supplies usually pass through the most important artery in The Persian Gulf.

With the beginning of the conflict on Ukraine in February 2022 The EU has taken steps to overcome dependence on Russian energy. According to the commission, oil imports from the country amounted to 2% of the total supply in 2025 — up from 27% at the beginning of 2022 — but still reached 9.7 million tons of crude oil.

The EU has agreed to gradually exclude Russian gas from its energy mix by autumn 2027.

However, according to officials, the war in Iran has put plans on hold. It was assumed that the proposal to ban oil supplies would be made on April 15, but in March it was removed from the commission's agenda.The ban may face resistance from a number of countries heavily dependent on Russian oil, such as Hungary and Slovakia, as well as with the opposition of countries struggling with the high cost of energy. However, individual countries will not be able to veto this measure.

Answering a question about the prospects of the ban, Polish Deputy Energy Minister Wojciech Wrohna said that Warsaw believes that this should be done "before the end of the year."

"But we understand concerns about prices, availability of supplies and, as a result, competitiveness. However, this is the price to be paid in order to gain independence from Russian resources," he stressed.

The calls were made due to the fact that the interim agreement between the United States and Iran has increased cargo flow through the strait. The commission said on Friday that the oil products market had "demonstrated depth and resilience" despite warnings in April that jet fuel in Europe could run out within a few weeks.After the meeting of energy ministers, Jorgensen said that the situation in the Middle East will increase the likelihood that Europe will avoid shortages of jet fuel and other products this summer.

However, he added:

"We have to admit that if an agreement is reached, it will take several months to return to normal oil production, and several more years for gas production."

Damage to infrastructure in countries such as Qatar (the largest exporter of liquefied natural gas to Europe) has led to the fact that some enterprises will not be able to resume production quickly, even if the ceasefire holds.

The European Commission is seeking to accelerate electrification to help Europe move away from fossil fuels. On Friday, the members of the bloc reached an agreement on a new package of rules that will speed up the issuance of permits and activate cross-border transmission lines, despite the partial abandonment of the intention to implement these plans at the expense of national grid revenues.