Pellegrini: EU Countries Have Right to Choose Own Energy Mix

Pellegrini: EU Countries Have Right to Choose Own Energy Mix

Prague, January 16 (TASR correspondent) – EU-member states should have the right to their own energy mix and technological neutrality, said Slovak Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini following a meeting of prime ministers of the Visegrad Four (V4) countries (Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary) and Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz on Thursday.


At the same time, the decision of each EU-member state on how it wants to generate electricity should be respected, added Pellegrini.

Pellegrini assured Kurz at a joint press conference with Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis, Hungarian Premier Viktor Orban and Polish Premier Mateusz Morawiecki that new blocks of the Slovak nuclear power plant Mochovce (Nitra region) are being constructed with respects to maximum safety possible.

“Slovakia will continue building this [energy] source, as it wants to meet its commitment to have a carbon-neutral economy by 2050,” said Pellegrini, adding that nuclear energy plays a key role for Slovakia.

As part of further discussion, Pellegrini said that the V4-Austria meeting has confirmed closeness of these countries, with their prime ministers sharing the same opinions on an array of issues, including migration. They concurred, for example, on the necessity of providing aid to countries from which migrants originate, while countries that appear unwilling to receive back illegal migrants from the EU should face certain sanctions.