(Bloomberg) – French President Emmanuel Macron has called the remaining energy imports of the European Union from Russia ‘very marginally’, and Donald Trump’s calls to challenge the block to reduce its dependence if he wants the US to end the pressure on Moscow to end the war in Ukraine. “It’s not an important driver today,” Macron said in an interview with CBS’s Face the Nation Broadcast Sunday. “We have decreased the consumption of oil and gas with more than 80%.” Last week, the US president repeatedly called on European allies to stop buying Russian oil, suggesting that it would consider additional measures against Russia “but not if the people I fight buy oil from Russia.” One US proposal that is advanced calls for so -called secondary rates of as much as 100% on goods from China and India, as well as other trade restrictions intended to combat the flow of Russian energy and prevent the transfer of technologies with double use to Russia. While the EU as a whole has reduced Russian energy imports since President Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, some member states remain very dependent. Slovakia and Hungary said they would withstand the pressure of Trump to reduce Russian oil imports until the EU found sufficient alternatives. The EU has already approved a ban that will prohibit the import of petroleum products from Russia ruol, and the block discusses the ban on the import of Russian liquid natural gas from 2027. Macron asked if it benefited further sanctions or tariffs on Russia. “If it just depends on me tomorrow,” he said. While momentum builds up in Europe to expand the use of frozen Russian assets to finance Ukraine, Macron sounded a cautious note. “As far as the frozen assets are concerned, we are all very connected to complying with international rules,” he told CBS. “And you cannot seize these assets of the central bank, not even in such a situation.” Most of the approximately $ 300 billion to frozen Russian assets is in Europe. Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, suggested this month that the cash balances could be used to give the Ukraine a “recovery loan”. More stories like these are available on Bloomberg.com © 2025 Bloomberg LP
Macron says Europe’s Russian energy imports are ‘marginal’ issue
