Prime Minister Robert Fico is dissatisfied with how the Italian company Enel operates the Slovak power utility Slovenské Elektrárne, saying so after the Cabinet session on Wednesday. Slovenské Elektrárne is the biggest electricity producer in Slovakia, with the Italian investor controlling 66 percent of it, while the government holds the remaining stake.
The Prime Minister does not like the position of the Italian investor to the completion of the third and fourth units of the Nuclear Power Plant Mochovce. He was thus reacting to a question on whether the government will help Slovenské Elektrárne with the modernization of the thermal power plant in Novaky, which uses coal mined by Slovak miners and thus creates jobs. The government has been blocking the release of additional funding for the completion of Mochovce. Costs for the project that should initially have been €2.8 billion have since risen to about €3.8 billion. Prime Minister Fico further objects to potential delays in the completion of Mochovce. Based on current information, the third unit of Mochovce should be launched at the end of 2014 and the fourth on in 2015, which is a delay of two years.
