Fico: Restart of Production at Slovalco Aluminium Good News for Slovakia
Ziar nad Hronom/Bratislava, 28 August (TASR) - The gradual restart of production at the Slovalco aluminium plant in Ziar nad Hronom (Banska Bystrica region) is good news for Slovakia and Europe alike, Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) declared at a press conference held at Slovalco following the ceremonial restart of its furnaces.
Fico added that when it's operating at full capacity, the plant will produce 17 percent of all primary aluminium in Europe.
"As of today, Slovakia can be a positive example of how to correct mistakes made both at the European level and at the domestic, Slovak level. For this reason, I believe that this is also a great day for Europe," said the prime minister, who also emphasised that primary aluminium is a strategic raw material without which "we cannot function within the European Union and cannot be competitive".
Fico highlighted that government representatives, together with the Slovak and Norwegian owners of the plant, have agreed on a course of action leading to the resumption of production, a model that has also gained acceptance at European Union level. According to Fico, this involved a major reform of the state aid mechanism as well as a long-term electricity supply contract. The owners also played their part, committing themselves to investing €100 million in restoring production.
Environment Minister Tomas Taraba (an SNS nominee) said in this context that by restoring primary aluminium production, Slovakia is becoming a producer of approximately one-fifth of this critical material, which the European Union currently has to import to a large extent from countries where emissions standards do not apply. He also noted that once the plant reaches full capacity, it will directly employ 500 people and support a further 5,000 jobs.
Taraba added that in the case of Slovalco, a solution has been found that doesn't constitute state aid. According to him, the assistance is based on the requirement that production must first be restarted.
"Compensation can then follow, and they are entitled to this under the compensation programme in place within the European Union. Slovakia has introduced new compensation for industry, which was approved without objection in Brussels," he said.
Slovalco CEO Milan Vesely stated that in the first phase the company will restart 100 of its 226 furnaces by February of next year. "We'll then look for further solutions so that we can reach full capacity," said Vesely. The company currently employs approximately 250 people, 80 percent of whom are employees who returned to the plant after being made redundant.
The aluminium plant in Ziar nad Hronom originally operated more than 220 electrolytic furnaces. Production of primary aluminium was scaled back in the summer of 2022, with the final furnaces shut down at the beginning of 2023. Slovalco explained the decision at the time by citing high energy prices and insufficient state compensation for energy-intensive industry.
In February of this year the Slovak government and Slovalco signed a memorandum of cooperation aimed at creating conditions for resuming aluminium production at the Ziar plant.
In July, government representatives and Slovalco officials signed two agreements under which the state committed itself to providing compensation for emissions and relief from contributions to the nuclear fund and electricity supplies for the next ten years in exchange for the company restarting production and maintaining employment at the aluminium plant.
