Bratislava needs EU support or crisis would kill its economy, says Eduard Heger
The soaring energy crisis has put Slovakia’s economy at risk of “collapse,” the country’s prime minister has said.
In an interview published by Financial Times on Wednesday, Eduard Heger said that Bratislava needs the EU’s support or the crisis would kill its economy due to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Heger warned that he might need to nationalize the country’s power supplies if Brussels does not provide support.
His comments came after a deepening crisis in the energy sector due to the reselling of contracts by dealers.
Slovakia’s largest energy supplier decided to sell off extra energy to traders at the beginning of 2022, and the dealers are currently reselling the contracts to Slovakia at prices around five times higher than the market, according to the Financial Times.
“Slovaks are buying for €500 ($479) what they sold for €100,” said Heger. “The European Commission plan for a €140 billion windfall tax on power generators in the bloc would not work in Slovakia.”
He added: “If we want to have a windfall tax, it must be European … The proceeds of an EU windfall tax should be distributed evenly around the EU which would net Slovakia about €1.5 billion.”
Heger also said he wants the EU to release €5 billion of “unused regional development funds” that can be used to lower energy bills for businesses.
“Otherwise (Slovakian businesses) will be closing and could actually collapse the whole economy,” Heger said.
His comments are the most direct yet from an EU leader regarding the soaring energy crisis in Europe after Russia significantly reduced the supply of natural gas to Europe in response to sanctions imposed on Moscow over its war on Ukraine.
