Fico: State Energy Holding Will Be Strong on Financial Markets

Bratislava, February 21 (TASR) – The Government will draw up an amendment to the law on strategic companies aimed at boosting the position of the state in firms with its property involvement, said Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) after the Coalition Council session on Tuesday.

“We want to use far more frequently the right of first refusal where it emerges as possible for the state to put its foot in the door of planned transactions in order to make the state stronger,” said Fico.

“An agreement was made today that we’ll work on setting up such a holding. We want to put together all stakes that the state holds in various companies. We’ll put them together into a single large energy holding, which will become significantly stronger on financial markets, allowing it to carry out various energy operations and provide a stronger position for the state in the future,” said Fico.

Slovak National Party (SNS) chairman Andrej Danko stated that there’s a need for the state to have a stronger hand in certain spheres.

“We agreed today to put such a strong state hand in energy,” said Danko, adding that the state has lost the right of first refusal in many partially privatised companies, with private investors “doing what they pleased”.

“An energy holding is a way to centralise stakes, show a strong hand and behave in a more transparent manner,” said the SNS chairman.

According to Most-Hid chief Bela Bugar, Slovakia needs a stable economic environment considering the unstable situation in Europe, and the coalition’s fresh energy decisions serve as a good response to this situation.

Apart from agreeing on setting up the energy holding, the coalition also decided that the posts of chairs of the Office for the Regulation of Network Industries (URSO) and URSO’s Regulatory Council will be disassociated from each other in order to prevent one person from holding both posts at the same time.