J. Blanár: By blocking EU sanctions against Russia, Slovakia reached a somewhat agreement with the European Commission
Bratislava/Brussels – The blocking of the approval of the 18th EU sanctions package against Russia by Slovakia has proven to be important in reaching any kind of agreement on the European Commission’s (EC) plan to stop gas imports from Russia, said Foreign and European Affairs Minister Juraj Blanár (Smer-SD) in a response on Friday. According to him, Slovakia has secured guarantees of energy security from the EC at this stage. TASR was informed about this by the communication department of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic (MZVEZ).
“It was a challenging negotiation and resisting pressure from several member states, but we did not back down. In the next negotiations on the European Commission’s legislative proposal on the so-called REPowerEU, we will point out the harmfulness of this proposal not only for the Slovak Republic but also for the competitiveness of the entire European Union,” said Blanár.
“The blocking of the approval of the 18th sanctions package on our part has proven to be important in reaching any kind of agreement to mitigate the effects of the thoughtless disconnection from affordable energy carriers from Russia,” he stated.
The Slovak Ambassador to the EU Juraj Nociar and the State Secretary of the MZVEZ SR Marek Eštok have, according to Blanár, facilitated the adoption of the sanctions package at Friday’s meeting of the EU Council for General Affairs. They did so, according to Blanár, despite the fact that the Slovak government continues to insist that the resolution of the conflict in Ukraine can only be achieved through diplomatic efforts and “not through dozens of sanctions that often endanger the European states themselves.”
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) stated on Thursday (July 17) that Slovak representatives vetoed the sanctions package a total of six times. According to him, Slovakia has written commitments from the EC signed by its President Ursula von der Leyen and the college of commissioners regarding the plan to stop Russian gas supplies to the EU by 2028. According to Fico, Slovakia will never support this plan, but blocking the sanctions would jeopardize the country’s interests. (July 18)
“The blocking of the approval of the 18th sanctions package on our part has proven to be important in reaching any kind of agreement to mitigate the effects of the thoughtless disconnection from affordable energy carriers from Russia.” Juraj Blanár
