State energy holding planned to strengthen position in markets

The Government will draw up an amendment to the law on strategic companies aimed at boosting the position of the state in firms with its property involvement, said Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) after the Coalition Council session on Tuesday. "We want to use the right of first refusal far more frequently for the state to put its foot in the door of planned transactions in order to make the state stronger," said Fico. "An agreement was made today that we'll work on setting up such a holding. We want to put together all stakes that the state holds in various companies. We'll put them together into a single large energy holding, which will become significantly stronger on the financial markets, allowing it to carry out various energy operations and provide a stronger position for the state in the future," said Fico. The ruling coalition also decided that the posts of chairs of the Office for the Regulation of Network Industries (URSO) and URSO's Regulatory Council will be disassociated from each other in order to prevent one person from holding both posts at the same time.