Russian bombs and missiles are still killing Ukrainian children because some European countries can’t - or won’t - curtail their dependence on imports of Russian gas, ECR Co-Chair Nicola Procaccini MEP said today in the European Parliament.

Procaccini compared Italy’s ‘acrobatic’ efforts to wean itself off Russian gas with Member States such as Spain, led by a Socialist premier and which was, in 2023, the second biggest client worldwide for Russian gas, with an 18 per cent market share.

He also told MEPs that France was even more addicted than Spain to the flow of gas from Russia in 2024, importing 81 per cent more gas than in the previous year for a benefit of €3 billion to Putin’s war machine.

Procaccini said:

“You will understand that, aside from the hypocrisies on the Green Deal that I would dwell on but I don’t have time, what doesn’t make sense is when some European leaders flex their muscles in front of the cameras and say they’re ‘willing’.

“On the one hand, they appear ready to do anything to stop Putin, and on the other hand they pay him to carry on.

“It’s a contradiction also denounced by President Trump, to whom the ‘willing’ ask for a commitment against Russia.

“However, they buy LNG from the Russian enemy rather than from the American ally.

“We must move swiftly towards European energy autonomy, from fossil and renewable sources, devoid of ideologies or hypocrisies.”

Mr Procaccini’s full speech to Parliament reads as follows:

Thank you, President. I have been waiting for this debate for a long time, because I have often felt alone in denouncing what happened after the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war.

There have been nations that have performed acrobatics to immediately disengage from Russian gas, both liquid and via pipeline. I will mention one: Italy. But perhaps you do not know that other European nations have increased their purchases of liquid gas from Russia, despite Putin using that money to manufacture missiles and bombs to drop on Ukrainian cities.

In 2022 and 2023, Sanchez’s green-chic Spain became the second largest buyer of Russian LNG in the world with 18 per cent, ahead of De Croo’s liberal Belgium, behind only XI Jinping’s China with 20%.

In 2024, Macron’s France overtook them, increasing their imports of liquid gas from Moscow by 81 per cent. That is, about three billion euros paid into Putin’s coffers in just one year, by just one nation.

You will understand that, aside from the hypocrisies on the Green Deal that I would dwell on but I don’t have time, what doesn’t make sense is when some European leaders flex their muscles in front of the cameras and say they’re ‘willing’. On the one hand, they appear ready to do anything to stop Putin, and on the other hand they pay him to carry on.

It is a contradiction also denounced by President Trump, to whom the ‘willing’ ask for a commitment against Russia. However, they buy LNG from the Russian enemy rather than from the American ally.

The Commission has just announced a plan to end energy imports from Russia: a bit late, but that’s okay. We must move swiftly towards European energy autonomy, from fossil and renewable sources, devoid of ideologies or hypocrisies.