The government’s regulation on limiting the amount of diesel used and its double price, disadvantaging foreigners, will only be valid for a month, and the European Union (EU) will not have time to react to these changes. Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) said this in the Slovak Radio program Sobotné dialogy, saying that he is therefore not worried about the possible reaction of the European Commission (EC). Hungary also currently applies different fuel prices for foreigners.
- The government will temporarily limit the pumping of diesel and increase its price for foreigners.
- The measure with the double price of diesel is supposed to be valid for only thirty days.
- Robert Fico does not expect the European Commission to intervene repressively during the month.
- The prime minister foresees the continuation of the oil crisis and warns of a possible oil shock.
- State compensation for affected sectors can increase the state budget deficit.
“Thirty days is too short a period to launch any infringements. We will protect the market for 30 days because we have a lower diesel price than in neighboring countries and we have to protect our own market. I consider this step to be absolutely justified,” said the prime minister.
According to Fico, if the EC wants to punish Slovakia for adopting such legislation, the government will defend itself. “I do not think that these 30 days would be so decisive that the Commission would be able to take any punitive measures against us until then,” he added.
The prime minister believes that the oil crisis will continue and even if the war in Iran ends immediately, it will take several months for the situation to calm down. “We have two scenarios. One is worse and the other is catastrophic,” claimed the prime minister. In the first case, according to him, we will be under the pressure of a constant increase in the price of fuel, because oil will be scarce. According to the prime minister, the catastrophic scenario is that there will not be enough oil, which will mean an oil shock. “Not only will prices skyrocket, but there won’t be enough commodity to process, so there won’t be enough fuel,” pointed out.
A significant increase in the price of fuel would very quickly be transferred through transport costs and inflation, and the increase in prices would affect the entire economy. NIn the event of a prolonged conflict, costs would also increase for farmers, not only due to diesel prices, but also due to the increase in fertilizer prices, for example. which are produced from increasingly expensive natural gas.
The Prime Minister emphasized that the affected sectors will probably request state compensation, but that would not happen on the other hand, it showed in the growth of the state budget deficit. Therefore, the EC wants to request that these expenses are not counted in the deficit in such a case.
