Heger said it unexpectedly harshly: The sharp rise in prices means only one thing for Slovakia! If Brussels doesn’t help…
The Slovak economy is in danger of collapsing due to rapidly rising electricity prices. This was stated by Prime Minister Eduard Heger for Wednesday’s edition of the renowned Financial Times (FT) newspaper.
The rise in prices after the Russian invasion of Ukraine can “kill” the country’s economy, it will not receive support in billions of euros from Brussels, FT Heger is quoted. In the interview, the Slovak Prime Minister also pointed out that if this does not happen, he will be forced to nationalize electricity supplies in the country.
Although Slovakia is a large producer of nuclear and hydropower, its largest electricity supplier made an expensive decision 12 months ago to sell additional electricity to traders. They now offer it in Slovakia at prices approximately five times higher.
“Slovaks buy for 500 euros what they sold for 100 euros,” mentioned Heger. with the fact that, for this reason, the European Commission’s plan for an extraordinary energy turbine tax of at least 140 euros within the European Union (EU) would not work in Slovakia. “If we want to have an extraordinary tax, it must be European,” he said.
According to Heger, the revenues from the unexpected EU tax need to be distributed evenly throughout the bloc, which means that Slovakia can receive approximately 1.5 billion euros. In addition, he needs Brussels to launch unused regional growth support funds of €5, which can be used to reduce costs for businesses.
“Otherwise (Slovak businesses) will close and the whole economy may collapse,” warned Heger. If Brussels did not come to the rescue, then “we will leave this electricity for our companies and our households so that they do not collapse,” he said. “We don’t want to do it, but if there is no other help, we will be pushed to this solution.”