Slovakia would drop its veto on the EU’s new sanctions against Russia if it receives an exemption to continue importing Russian pipeline gas for nearly another decade, Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico says, as the European Union is struggling to reach a unanimous vote on the 18th sanctions package against Russia.
Earlier this week, the EU failed to approve the package, which is set to include a floating oil price cap for Russia’s crude and a ban on the use of Nord Stream infrastructure, due to Slovakia’s veto.
The ball is now in Slovakia’s court, Kaja Kallas, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said.
Slovakia’s Fico said that the EU guarantees on its energy security after January 1, 2028, when the EU plans to have dropped all Russian gas supply, have been insufficient.
Slovakia has tied dropping its veto on the sanctions package with sufficient energy security guarantees.
According to Slovakia, the most plausible guarantee would be the EU allowing it to honor its contract with Russian gas giant Gazprom until it expires in 2034—seven years after the EU is set to have halted all gas imports from Russia.
“The best solution to the situation would be to grant Slovakia an exemption allowing it to fulfill its contract with Russian Gazprom until it expires in 2034—something the European Commission currently rejects on principle, arguing that approving such a proposal would undermine the essence of the anti-Russian sanctions,” Fico wrote on X.
Slovakia and Hungary have often stalled talks on sanctions packages and EU plans to ditch Russian gas, arguing their energy security would be at stake.
Unlike most other EU member states, Hungary and Slovakia continue to receive Russian gas via a pipeline through Balkans.
The European Union’s executive arm, the European Commission, in May unveiled a roadmap to fully end EU dependency on Russian energy. For gas, the Commission proposes to cease all imports of Russian gas by the end of 2027 by improving the transparency, monitoring, and traceability of Russian gas across the EU markets. New contracts with suppliers of Russian gas will be prevented and spot contracts (for immediate payment) will be stopped by the end of 2025, according to the roadmap.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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