The key point of the conflict within the European Union remains the blocked loan for Ukraine in the amount of 90 billion euros, which Fico described as primarily a “military loan” intended for armaments. The prime minister emphasized that Slovakia does not directly block this loan, but yesterday he refused to support the conclusions of the summit regarding Ukraine, because they did not mention the critical situation on the Druzhba oil pipeline. “I did not support the conclusions of yesterday’s summit on Ukraine, because they are just litanies that ignore our national interests,” declared Fico.
On the issue of oil supplies, the prime minister openly accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of “playing cat and mouse” with EU partners and misleading them about pipeline damage. Fico disputed claims about the bombing of the Brody pumping station and called the whole situation a “big game for the Hungarian elections”, where Kyiv is trying to weaken Viktor Orbán. According to the Prime Minister, Zelenskyi “rejects any counter-pressure from the EU” and ignores requests for inspection of the pipeline, which, according to Fico, the European Commission also participates in with its inaction.
Simečka’s reaction
Practically immediately after Robert Fico’s press conference in Brussels, the strongest opposition movement Progresívne Slovensko (PS) announced its own briefing. It was a response to the way the Slovak Prime Minister interpreted the meeting of the leaders of the European Union (EU).
“It’s practically the same picture after every EU summit. The prime minister doesn’t think of anything for Slovakia and our interests, he comes back and attacks the European Union – how powerless it is, how it can’t make any decisions, how weak we are against America, China and Russia, and how everything bad that happens to our citizens originates in the EU,” assessed PS chairman Michal Šimečka.
According to the movement, this is the same scenario as in the previous two summits, where the prime minister did not achieve his goals. “The Prime Minister always comes up with the fact that he didn’t succeed in lobbying for what he wanted, but even then it’s actually everyone else’s fault. Now it’s the same situation again,” Šimečka continued.
Robert Fico asked the European Council to include a mention of the Druzhba pipeline in the conclusions of the summit. When he failed, he announced that he would not support the conclusions regarding Ukraine. According to Šimeček, Fico also had proposals for solving high electricity prices, but he also failed to implement them. Progressive Slovakia believes that the reason for the failure is the isolation of the Slovak prime minister within the EU, which results from his constant criticism of the Union and its representatives.
“He is just such a well-paid commentator on what is wrong in European politics, what should be changed and why we are weak. But he can start a podcast for that,” added the PS chairman.
The threat of an oil shock and the end of exemptions
At a press conference today, the Slovak Prime Minister warned the public that after the Hungarian elections, which are held in April, there may be a fundamental change in the energy policy of Brussels. According to his information, legislation has already been prepared to cancel the exemption for the import of Russian oil for Slovakia and Hungary, although it was originally supposed to be valid until the end of 2027. “I will consider it a brutal attack on our national interests,” warned Fico and indicated that Slovakia will arrange itself accordingly.
In connection with this, he reminded that Bratislava has already taken a reciprocal step and stopped the supply of emergency electricity to Ukraine. The prime minister emphasized that if Zelenskyy continues to ignore Slovak interests, the patience of some European leaders with his approach will definitely run out.
Fico later revealed at a press conference what the leaders’ negotiations look like behind closed doors. “We tell ourselves at those meetings that we are weak,” said the prime minister when he talked about how the issue of competitiveness was handled in the EU. He criticized the lack of urgency in tackling energy prices and said the Union had “agreed to agree” on competitiveness.
He identified the elements of the Green Deal as the main brake on development, which, according to him, can “economically sink” the European Union. He emphasized that Slovakia produces 84% of electricity emission-free, and therefore considers it unacceptable to pay high prices distorted by the stock exchange in Leipzig. “Our industry is extremely weakened and we are extremely threatened,” Fico concluded, adding that his dissatisfaction with the summit reached a level of 9.5 on a ten-point scale.
According to him, the March summit in Brussels, originally intended to discuss the strengthening of the European economy, revealed the “powerlessness” and paralysis of the Union. Instead of geopolitical solutions, leaders focused on technical adjustments to the Emissions Trading System (ETS). The main conflict was a loan for Ukraine in the amount of 90 billion euros, which Viktor Orbán blocked. The atmosphere of the negotiations was “icy” and full of “awkward silence”.
The address of the Hungarian Prime Minister, whose position was actually covered by Robert Fico, was criticized without precedent. The president of the council, António Costa, called this action “blackmail” and a violation of the principles of cooperation. The situation was complicated by the war conflict in Iran, which crippled energy supplies and led to outages of LNG from Qatar. The result of the twelve-hour marathon was the postponement of key budgetary issues until the April summit in Cyprus, where the suspension of Hungary’s voting rights may also be at stake.
