EU finally prohibited gas imports from Russia, Hungary sues at the European Court

HUNGARY - In Brief 03 Feb 2026 by Istvan Racz

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The EU regulation to prohibit the imports of natural gas from Russia was finally published in the EU's official gazette on January 26, after being approved by the European Parliament in early December and by the EU Council at a later date. This regulation does not prohibit the imports of Russian oil, but it takes aim at the phasing out of the latter in two years from now, as detailed below.The EU treated this case as a trade policy matter, which counts as common policy in current EU law, and it requires a qualified majority decision at the ministerial level of the Council, as opposed to sanctions, which are to be approved at a summit meeting, by a unanimous vote. As a consequence, Hungary and Slovakia, the two member countries which opposed the decision, had no veto right to block the regulation.As a general rule, the regulation bans the imports of Russian gas with immediate effect. However, as a matter of temporary exemption:- all existing short-term (less than one-year tenor) import contracts for pipeline gas can be fulfilled until June 17, 2026 as the final date;- the same applies to existing LNG purchase contracts, but with an earlier final date (April 25, 2026);- under long-term contracts, pipeline gas can be imported from Russia until September 30, 2027, and Russian LNG until December 31, 2026;- in terminating import contracts with Russia, a member country will have to refer to a vis major case (the EU regulation).Regarding oil, the new regulation requires those member countries which still import from Russia to hand in to the EU Commission national diversification plans by March 1 this year, detailing their planned steps to phase out the imports of Russian oil b...