Even before the heads of state and government summit on Thursday and Friday in Versailles, it was clear that the EU wanted to free itself from dependence on gas, coal and oil from Russia.

The only thing the bosses couldn't agree on at first was the pace.

Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has now set the target for 2027.

By mid-May, the Commission intends to present concrete proposals on how the EU can achieve this.

Henrik Kafsack

Business correspondent in Brussels.

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Already on Tuesday she had announced that she would at least reduce her dependency on Russian gas by no less than two-thirds by the end of the year.

In particular, she wants to increase the import of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Qatar, the USA and West Africa by 50 billion cubic meters, but also push ahead with the expansion of renewable energies faster than previously planned and save energy.

The EU Commission also wants to react to the energy prices, which have been high for months and have risen again because of the war in Ukraine, by intervening in the market.

It is initially concentrating on the electricity market.

Von der Leyen announced at Versailles that by the end of the month he would present proposals for contingency measures to prevent gas price increases from triggering electricity price increases.

It should also be about time-limited upper limits for the electricity price.

The price of electricity is based on the price of the most expensive energy source used.

Since gas-fired power plants are usually one of them, a high gas price inevitably leads to high electricity prices.

Reform of the electricity price calculation?

France in particular, but also Spain and Greece have therefore been pushing for months to decouple the electricity price from the gas price.

So far, however, they have encountered resistance in Germany, other countries and also in the Commission.

France wants to base the price on average production costs.

That would automatically mean lower prices for the country, which depends heavily on comparatively cheap nuclear power.

Germany and for a long time also the Commission countered that the current market design provides the right incentives to invest in the expansion of renewables.

But now von der Leyen has apparently given in to French pressure.

By mid-May, she intends to present proposals on how the EU's electricity market design can be reformed.

Irrespective of this, the Commission wants to allow the states to skim off the special profits that many energy producers have made because of the high electricity prices.

The member states can use the money to cushion the consequences of the price increase for consumers and companies.

In its energy strategy paper on Tuesday, the Commission put the achievable revenue for 2022 at 200 billion euros.

Demands for price caps in the gas market met with resistance in Versailles.

The Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, but also Spaniards, Belgians and Italians had campaigned for this.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said a price cap sounds good but makes the EU unattractive for gas supplies, slowing it's attempts to gain independence from Russia.

The bosses continue to disagree about whether the EU, like the US and Great Britain, should impose an oil embargo or a general embargo on raw materials against Russia.

Several Eastern European countries have demanded this.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) once again rejected such an import ban.

The effects of the EU sanctions on the Europeans themselves must be as small as possible, he emphasized: "We want to continue to pursue this course." The Commission takes a similar line.

The EU imports 23 percent of its oil from Russia.

It is much more dependent than the United States and Britain, which only get 7 to 8 percent of their oil from there.