EU countries seek to keep Russian gas exit plans secret, document shows

By Kate Abnett

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -European Union governments want Brussels to keep secret how they plan to phase out using Russian oil and gas by the end of 2027, an internal EU document seen by Reuters showed.

The European Commission last month proposed legislation to phase out EU imports of Russian oil and gas - part of which would require countries to produce national plans setting out measures and timelines for how they will do this.

EU governments are now negotiating the proposal, and have demanded that the Commission keep those plans secret, a draft negotiating document showed.

"Those plans should be subject to the rules of professional secrecy and not be disclosed without the agreement of the respective Member State," said the document, drafted by Denmark which holds the rotating EU presidency and leads negotiations among EU countries.

Countries' plans should "describe intended measures at national or regional level to reduce demand, foster renewable energy production and ensure alternative supplies, as well as possible technical, contractual or regulatory barriers which may complicate the diversification process," it added.

Countries may want to avoid sharing information with markets that could affect gas prices, or reveal sensitive information on their plans to source non-Russian fuel supplies.

While countries would still be obliged to submit their plans to Brussels, "professional secrecy" would mean the information would not be disclosed to any other person or authority, the document said.

The Commission proposal had not confirmed whether or not the plans would be kept secret.

A spokesperson for Denmark's EU presidency declined to comment on the negotiations.

EU countries' diplomats will discuss the document next week. The negotiations are at an early stage, and have not yet tackled issues including potential legal risks for companies that break their Russian gas contracts, EU diplomats said.

Slovakia and Hungary still import Russian gas via pipeline. They have opposed the Russian gas ban, which Brussels designed so it can be legally passed without their support.

However, Slovakia has said it will block new EU sanctions on Russia over its war in Ukraine - which require unanimous approval from all 27 EU countries - unless its concerns over gas supplies are resolved. EU countries' ambassadors are due to discuss the sanctions package on Friday.

Prime Minister Robert Fico said on Thursday the EU had not yet addressed Slovakia's concerns about high gas prices and demands for compensation for halting Russian gas imports. European Commission officials travelled to Bratislava last week for talks on the government's concerns.

"At this point, we refuse to vote for the 18th package of sanctions," Fico said.

(Reporting by Kate Abnett. Additional reporting by Jan Lopatka. Editing by Mark Potter)