PM Fico attends final EU Summit of 2015

Prime Minister Robert Fico is attending the final EU summit of 2015 in Brussels on Thursday and Friday. EU leaders should discuss the migration and refugee crisis, the setting up of hot spots for identifying and registering migrants, the implementation of decisions on relocation, strengthening the protection of the EU's external borders and cooperation with countries of origin and transit. Also on the agenda will be the current state of measures for fighting terrorism, the exchange of information among European intelligence services, external border controls as well as the future direction of the Economy and Monetary Union. The topic of the Energy Union and the related Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline has, partly thanks to the initiative of Slovakia, been included in the agenda of this EU summit, stated Slovak Foreign and European Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajčák. Slovakia alongside other Visegrad Four countries (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia) is against increasing the capacity of the Nord Stream gas pipeline, which would supply Russian gas to Europe bypassing not only Ukraine but also Slovakia, resulting in the potential loss of hundreds of millions of euro in transit income for Slovakia.