Fico: Important for Slovakia Not to Be Affected by Nord Stream 2 Project
Bratislava, November 22 (TASR) – It’s vital for Slovakia not to be affected by the Nord Stream 2 project, stated Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) in his speech at a conference on saving energy and the possibilities of decentralised energy entitled ‘Modern Trends in European Energy’, which took place in Bratislava on Wednesday.
“The plan to build the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline isn’t, in our opinion, in line with Energy Union objectives, which call for the diversification of transport routes, suppliers and resources. We behave very transparently in this respect. The proposed pipeline offers neither a new source of gas supplies to the EU, nor a new supplier. We’re principally interested in whether or not the Nord Stream 2 project meets the criteria of Energy Union on which we’ve agreed within the EU,” said Fico.
The premier went on to say that Slovakia, just like other EU-member states, has recently undergone a serious and heated discussion on the future form of energy mix, which has radically changed due to the rise of renewable solar resources, biomass resources, massive thermal insulation and micro-source development, but at the expense of traditional energy sources.
“Bridging the role of fossil fuels and putting inappropriate pressure on reducing emissions in the European steel and automotive industries, which produce over 20 million cars a year, too rapidly and in a too revolutionary manner, could confront us with a potential reduction in added value in this sector within the EU. And we cannot and must not agree with that,” he added.
According to the premier, despite the fact that the EU has become one of the leaders in developing solutions for increasing energy efficiency, the pace of its approach to green energy is a matter of the global competitiveness of its own production in the automotive and electrical, mechanical engineering industries and especially in sectors with high energy demands, such as metallurgy and steelmaking.
“Therefore, I’d like to stress that nuclear power has a well-founded place in the decarbonisation efforts of our country, but also in terms of energy security,” said Fico.
