The main political discussion among EU finance ministers (Ecofin) in Brussels on Tuesday concerned competitiveness and reducing the regulatory burden, Finance Minister Ladislav Kamenický (Smer-SD) told the media following the meeting, adding that Slovakia supports these efforts and stresses the importance of energy prices.
Kamenický noted that the Council of Ministers reached a political agreement on a directive on administrative cooperation in the field of taxation and addressed the current economic and financial impact of Russia's aggression against Ukraine. According to him, Slovakia supports all activities related to simplifying tax processes, reducing red tape, etc. He also admitted that he was somewhat "amazed" that many of his counterparts at the meeting spoke more about defence than about competitiveness itself. Kamenický stated that Slovakia does not want higher defence spending to come at the expense of social programmes.
"We're trying to keep energy prices low, and we need to free up gas transit through Ukraine, as Europe has less gas. This is pushing up prices, and we need energy [prices] to be as low as possible and to have competitive industry," stated Kamenický.
"I also told my colleagues that we can't be led by the new issue of arms spending into not dealing with competitiveness. This is the main problem we can see in Europe and we, as the largest car manufacturer, have to make sure that our industry is competitive," said Kamenický.
Kamenicky pointed out that the new US administration is no longer trying very hard to finance Europe's defence, which is why Europeans are deciding to spend much more on their own defence than before. In this context, he stressed that it's important for him, as finance minister, that these expenditures will be "bearable" for Slovakia and that financing these expenditures will be made possible by exceptions to the fiscal rules of the Stability and Growth Pact.
"We can't afford today to allocate the funds we need for social programmes on defence. In terms of the new rules, we want to use these resources more for dual use. For example, we're talking about building a hospital in Presov that will be used for both military and civilian purposes. We want to finish bridges to make them passable for military equipment, but bridges and roads are also important for other people," he stated.
According to him, the ministers also discussed the possibility of using EU cohesion funds for defence purposes, and he pointed out that Slovakia is drawing these funds at a slow rate. Therefore, he would welcome redirecting part of these funds to the defence sphere so that they are not lost.
Source: TASR
