New European Commissioner seeks to sever all energy ties with Russia

He spoke in an interview with Politico, Ukrinform reports.

“To have been able to bring down our dependency to such an extent that we have is actually quite an accomplishment,” Jørgensen said

He added that he would create "a tangible roadmap that will include efficient tools and means for us to solve the remaining part of the problem".

According to the new European Commissioner, his plan will focus " on gas primarily, but also oil and nuclear".

He said the plan would land within the first 100 days of his taking office (by mid-March).

The European Union has already imposed a blanket ban on seaborne exports of coal and oil from Russia, while reducing its dependence on Russian gas pipelines by about two-thirds.

Earlier, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen suggested that the EU could buy more American liquefied natural gas to avoid a potential trade war with the United States.

“We need to be mindful that we could not have done the decrease in dependency from Russia without energy from … the U.S,” Jørgensen said. “They really have been our friends and I hope, of course, that we will continue to be friends.”

As Ukrinform reported earlier, Belgium, one of Europe’s largest importers of LNG from Russia, has called on the EU to ban Russian fuel.