European Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson and representatives of European governments will gather in Budapest on 8 April to attend a conference organised by the Brussels-based gas lobby agency Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE).

The European Union has set out plans to cut dependency on Russian gas imports by two-thirds by the end of the year and to phase out Russian natural gas entirely by 2030 at the latest. These plans include accelerated investment in renewable energy sources and energy efficiency, as well as increasing natural gas imports from non-Russian suppliers by 60 billion cubic metres by the end of this year.