M. Šimečka criticized the Slovak government after the summit of liberals in Brussels for not diversifying gas supplies

Brussels – Slovakia should actively seek allies within the EU and better defend its energy interests, as it failed to secure timely diversification of supplies. This was indicated on Thursday by the leader of the opposition Progressive Slovakia (PS), Michal Šimečka, after the summit of European liberals, which took place at the beginning of the European Council meeting in Brussels. This was reported by TASR correspondent.

Before EU summits, the highest representatives of the main European political families – the Christian Democrats, Socialists, Democrats, and also Liberals traditionally hold their peak meetings. On Thursday, Slovakia was represented at these party summits only by the PS party at the liberal event.

Šimečka reminded that several European commissioners and prime ministers of EU countries attended the event. He had a meeting with the EU’s foreign affairs chief, Josep Borrell. He added that the topics of discussion also included the efforts announced by Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) to block the 18th package of EU sanctions and their connection to the REPowerEU legislation, which aims to ban the import of Russian oil and gas by the end of 2027.

“This is an area where all member countries, except Slovakia and Hungary, have fulfilled their obligations and are prepared for it. Robert Fico’s governments neglected this, the diversification of sources, and now Fico has a problem. We should have been elsewhere and prepared for this a long time ago,” Šimečka described the situation.

According to him, the Prime Minister of Slovakia unnecessarily links the 18th package of sanctions with legislation that is not related at all and does not even know exactly what he wants to ask from the European Commission regarding REPowerEU, whether some compensations or a postponement of this legislation, and this “confusing stance” without concrete results, according to him, does not do Slovakia any good.

“We need to break down the barriers we have in the single market, and the European budget should help with that,” Šimečka explained. He specified that these frameworks should also be considered when preparing the long-term EU budget after 2027. “For countries like Slovakia, it is important that cohesion and EU funds are maintained,” he added.

According to him, European liberals agreed that the EU needs reforms that will help competitiveness and economic growth, in which the EU should assist through its budgetary tools.

In matters of energy self-sufficiency and supply diversification, the PS leader stated that Slovakia should not “break its relationships” with allies from EU countries; on the contrary, it should invest more in them and not talk about the country’s exit from the EU and NATO, which would certainly help if discussions about some compensations for suspended energy flows from Russia or an extension of the period for these supplies take place within the EU. (June 26)