BRUSSELS — EU energy security got a fresh lift in April 2026 as new data showed renewables supplying a record share of the bloc’s electricity in 2025 and policymakers prepared new steps to speed electrification and cut reliance on imported fossil fuels. The momentum matters because every gain in homegrown power, grid capacity and electric end use reduces exposure to the oil and gas shocks that have repeatedly rattled European households and industry, April 15, 2026.
Under Eurostat data released in March, renewables generated 47.3% of the EU’s electricity in 2025, edging up from 47.2% in 2024. Wind remained the bloc’s largest renewable power source, while solar posted the fastest growth, giving Europe another year of momentum in shifting away from fossil-fuel generation.
Why EU energy security is improving now
That progress matters because the bloc still depends heavily on energy from abroad. According to Eurostat’s latest import-dependency figures, the EU relied on net imports for 57% of its energy needs in 2024. Norway was the biggest supplier of natural gas, while the United States led oil and petroleum-product imports, underscoring how exposed Europe remains when global fuel markets tighten.
Brussels has also been chipping away at one of its most politically sensitive vulnerabilities. Under the Commission’s REPowerEU phase-out framework, the EU says its dependence on Russian gas has fallen from 45% of overall imports at the start of the war to 12% in 2025, with a new regulation designed to push the remaining volumes out of the market in less than two years.
EU energy security still hinges on electrification
The bigger structural test now is whether Europe can electrify fast enough outside the power sector. On the Commission’s electrification page, Brussels says renewables accounted for 47.5% of gross electricity consumed in the EU in 2024, but electricity still made up only 23% of final energy consumption. The Commission is using 32% by 2030 as a reference point for shifting more transport, industry and buildings away from direct fossil-fuel use.
That strategy is moving from broad ambition to policy detail. Reuters reported Tuesday that a draft Commission package due April 22 would seek lower electricity taxes, faster deployment of smart-grid investment and an EU electrification target before summer — all aimed at making clean power more competitive against oil and gas when markets turn volatile.
A strategy years in the making
The direction of travel did not begin this spring. Reuters’ reporting on Brussels’ 210 billion-euro REPowerEU push in 2022 captured the emergency phase of the crisis response. A year later, Reuters detailed the bloc’s 2023 joint gas-buying scheme as Europe tried to avoid another winter scramble. By early 2025, Reuters was reporting on solar overtaking coal in the EU power mix, a sign that crisis management was beginning to turn into structural change.
The message for governments, utilities and manufacturers is that EU energy security is no longer only about replacing one gas supplier with another. It is increasingly about building a power system in which domestic renewables, stronger grids and wider electrification do more of the economic and strategic work. Europe is not fully insulated yet, but its energy defenses are becoming broader, cleaner and harder to disrupt.
