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Faced with supply crisis, Europe prepares to pause methane import rules
France used an EU energy meeting in Dublin on Tuesday to press for a one-year postponement of the bloc’s methane rules on oil and gas imports, arguing that Europe cannot tighten climate paperwork on suppliers while fuel markets remain strained by the Iran conflict.
“Faced with the crisis, Europe must act quickly,” French energy minister Maud Bregeon said. “Following the initiative of the President of the Republic, I defended in Dublin a one-year postponement of the methane regulation. In the short term, we must guarantee our supplies. In the medium term, we must accelerate electrification.”
Face à la crise, l’Europe doit agir vite. À la suite de l’initiative du Président de la République, j’ai défendu à Dublin un report d’un an du règlement méthane.
À court terme, nous devons garantir nos approvisionnements. À moyen terme, nous devons accélérer l’électrification. pic.twitter.com/HzN7yr1wDe
— Maud Bregeon (@MaudBregeon) September 29, 2026
The rule in question is not the whole 2024 methane law. It is the first hard import obligation: from 1 January 2027, EU importers must show that crude, gas and coal under contracts signed or renewed after 4 August 2024 were produced under monitoring, reporting and verification standards equivalent to those applied inside the EU, or to OGMP 2.0 Level 5 plus independent checks. Failure can bring fines of up to 20 percent of annual turnover. Intensity reporting would follow in 2028; a methane cap in 2030.
That 2027 date is now the political flashpoint. President Emmanuel Macron asked last week for a one-year delay, saying the rules could create legal risk for importers as supplies tighten. Germany, Italy, Poland, the Netherlands and others had already called in June for a pause or rewrite. The United States, Europe’s largest LNG supplier, warned that cargoes could be sent elsewhere.
The Commission has shifted. In July it only recommended that member states waive most importer penalties through 2029. By this week a spokesperson said Brussels plans to propose a postponement. Energy Commissioner Dan Jørgensen, speaking in Dublin, said he had instructed his services “to look into possibilities of postponing the part that has to do with imports,” and that a one-year move was under review.
“I am looking into delaying, not loosening the ambition of the rules,” Jørgensen said. Any delay, he added, “needs to be on the condition that all member states then use that year to make sure that they are able to implement.” He cited a “big” majority of governments and said a proposal is expected before the 15 October leaders’ meeting. Council and Parliament would still have to approve a change before the end of the year.
The supply case is the reason the file moved. After disruption linked to the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran and reduced flows through the Strait of Hormuz, EU gas stocks are lower than usual for the season and prices are high. Governments fear producers facing new verification burdens will simply sell to other buyers. A shift of the import deadline to 1 January 2028 would let companies sign winter contracts without an immediate compliance cliff and give verifiers more time.
Opposition remains. Spanish ecological transition minister Sara Aagesen said Madrid does not want the regulation postponed. “We don’t want to postpone the methane regulation,” she said, arguing that climate action cannot slip. Reopening the law also carries a procedural risk: once the text is back on the table, governments and the Parliament can try to change more than the calendar. Italy and the Czech Republic have already asked for three years, not one.
For now the 2027 date still stands. What changed this week is Brussels’ posture. France put a one-year delay on the ministerial agenda. The Commission is no longer defending the original timetable as untouchable. The article worth writing is not that Europe has abandoned methane rules. It is that a landmark climate instrument is being reopened because security of supply, for this winter at least, has overtaken the original calendar.
Methane showdown: EU soft power defeats U.S. pressure on global gas rules
Caption: French energy minister Maud Bregeon shakes hands with Darragh O’Brien, Ireland’s Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment. He chaired the informal EU Energy Ministers’ meeting in Dublin Castle on 29 September 2026 during Ireland’s EU presidency. [Maud Bregeon on X]
