Opposition calls gas refunds pre-election corruption

Slovak households will receive the so-called gas refunds soon. The Economy Ministry will start sending letters with the postal order, which will determine what households will get back from the state, from 10 to 165 EUR for last year's consumed gas. "The money will come to 1.4 million households at the turn of January and February," Prime Minister Robert Fico stated on Wednesday. "People should obtain the letters within two weeks. A citizen has 60 days to get the cash refund based on the money order," said Economy Minister Vazil Hudák. The sum of the refund will depend on how much gas the household consumed last year. Overall, some 47 million EUR from this year's state budget should be spent on gas refunds. The opposition party Most-Híd considers the gas refunds to be economic nonsense and a form of pre-election corruption. The Christian Democrats, also in opposition to the governing Smer party, call it a part of Smer's campaign that is in fact financed by the Slovak citizens. Moreover they call the gas refunds an unsystematic and discriminatory measure against households that do not use gas for heating.