Premier Discusses with EC President Impact of REPowerEU Legislation on Slovakia

        Brussels, 26 June (TASR-correspondent) - The main topic of Thursday's talks with European Commission (EC) President Ursula von der Leyen was the REPowerEU legislative package, Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) stressed during the ongoing EU summit in Brussels, confirming that he met with the EC chief ahead of the European Council meeting to discuss the legislative proposal, which calls for a ban on Russian gas imports to all EU member states as of 1 January 2028.
        "It is a proposal that will have a negative impact on gas prices in Slovakia, including households and industry, and will certainly lead to a reduction in the competitiveness of the whole EU. Not to mention Slovakia as a country where there is a huge concentration of car production, where industry accounts for a substantial part of the gross domestic product," emphasised the prime minister.
        The premier pointed out that in the draft summit conclusions there is an explicit mention of Slovakia in this context, because the EC is well aware of what this proposal from 1 January 2028 may cause in Slovakia. He appreciated that Slovak employers have also drawn attention to the importance of this situation. Fico stated that perhaps the only people cheering on this "ideological and harmful" proposal by the European Commission are the Slovak opposition and the "anti-government" media.
        "I'm glad we had a constructive and pragmatic conversation with the European Commission president, who is fully aware of the implications of this decision for countries like Slovakia and Hungary, and therefore we were able to focus on four or five key issues that are extremely important for us," he said.
        Fico noted that the EC will probably push through this proposal because it will be voted by a qualified majority, which will mean that gas won't flow from the east to the west, but Slovakia will be supplied from other sources - from the north, the south and the west - after a significant increase in transit fees. He therefore discussed with the EC chief whether it could be ensured that gas flowing to Slovakia via several countries would have the same transit fee compared to what the country pays now. They also talked about the price of gas, as there are fears that the price of the commodity will increase once supplies from Russia are stopped and the price of gas for households could go up by 30-50 percent.
        "Our position is that we can never vote in favour of such a legislative act..., unless there is an agreement with the European Commission that would compensate us for all the damages that come into consideration," said the prime minister, adding that unless this proposal is complied with by the EC, and until this fundamental problem is resolved, the Slovak ambassador to the EU has clear instructions to veto the adoption of the EU's 18th sanctions package.