Prime Minister Fico: Slovakia will not agree to the EU proposal to stop energy supplies from Russia

Bratislava – Slovakia will not agree to the proposal for a complete halt to the supply of energy resources from Russia to the European Union (EU). The European Commission (EC) is set to present its specific form on Tuesday. This was stated by Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) after Tuesday’s meeting with Minister of Economy Denisa Saková (Hlas-SD) regarding the ongoing fulfillment of the government’s program statement by the Ministry of Economy, TASR reports.

Fico emphasized that what the EC outlined is a “nonsensical, ideological, and harmful proposal,” which could mean an increase in gas prices for households in Slovakia by 30 to 50%.

“In practice, this will mean an increase in prices for households. I say this completely without any hesitation. We are counting on higher transit fees in Europe, we are counting on a higher commodity price. We must consider that Slovak households will be threatened by an increase in gas prices of 30 to 50%. And I ask you, how do you stand on this, are you ready to do this for Ukraine? I am not,” stated the Prime Minister.

The gas currently coming in small volumes from the Russian Federation is, according to him, differential and stabilizes gas prices in Europe. He claims that if this gas is halted, there will not only be an increase in the commodity price, but also an increase in transit fees, and it may happen that there will not be enough of this commodity.

According to him, Slovakia also faces international arbitration because it has signed a long-term contract with Russian Gazprom for gas supplies worth around 20 billion euros.

“If we stop fulfilling it in 2028, representatives of this company can sue us and demand compensation in the billions. I can inform you that the Ambassador of the Slovak Republic to the EU has received a clear instruction to request a postponement of the vote on sanctions until this issue is resolved. Because we have no answers regarding compensations, we have no answers regarding potential legal disputes, we have no answers regarding guaranteeing that Slovakia will actually have enough gas that we need,” emphasized the Prime Minister.

The government, according to him, will do everything to ensure that energy prices for households in Slovakia do not rise in 2026. In the case of electricity, he relies on a memorandum signed with Slovenské elektrárne. “As for gas, the impacts are in the hundreds of millions of euros and we are currently very optimistic, it could go up to one billion euros. We will look for sources to help households and not pay more,” Fico announced.

The Minister of Economy, according to him, is working on a system of targeting assistance with energy prices. In this case, however, the fundamental problem is to determine who is rich and who is poor, who needs assistance and who does not. According to Fico, there are very few truly wealthy families. “Therefore, we can still claim that practically all of Slovakia will need compensation for energy, whether it is gas or electricity,” he added. (June 17)

“The Ambassador of the Slovak Republic to the EU has received a clear instruction to request a postponement of the vote on sanctions until this issue is resolved. Because we have no answers regarding compensations, we have no answers regarding potential legal disputes, we have no answers regarding guaranteeing that Slovakia will actually have enough gas that we need.” Robert Fico