Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) and his Czech counterpart Andrej Babiš signed a memorandum on enhanced cooperation at Nova Horka Castle in the Czech town of Studenka on Tuesday, doing so during a joint meeting of their cabinets.
They also signed a memorandum of understanding and cooperation in the field of peaceful energy use, as well as agreements on shared responsibility for gas storage in the Czech village of Dolni Bojanovice.
Babiš noted that Slovakia and the Czech Republic are each other's biggest trading partners, with Czech companies investing in Slovakia and vice versa.
Fico emphasised that there are three issues that require attention: world peace, energy security and the fight against illegal migration. He praised Babiš 's proactive approach at European Council meetings, where he raises the issue of electricity prices.
Babiš also announced that he asked Fico to lift Slovakia's state of emergency concerning oil. Fico promised him that the oil emergency will be lifted as soon as certain conditions are met.
The Slovak Prime Minister responded by saying that Slovakia had to declare an oil emergency because the law requires such a procedure. "If the state wants to lend its oil reserves, it must declare a state of emergency concerning oil. We've allocated a certain volume that is available to the Slovnaft refinery. The refinery drew from this volume, which made it possible to ensure fuel production in Bratislava, which is vital," said Fico, adding that oil is gradually beginning to return to Slovakia's state reserves. "Therefore, once these storage facilities, which fall under the control of the state material reserves, are refilled, there will be no reason to maintain the state of emergency concerning oil," he declared. Fico also said that the government regulation that introduced dual diesel prices and set limits will expire after 30 days.
Regarding the issue of dual pricing, Babis noted that it would be better to address the problem on a regional level. "Slovakia has decided to do so. They are in a different situation because Slovakia gets 100 percent of its fuel supply from the refinery in Bratislava, while we import 30 percent of our fuel, so I think we've agreed in some way on how we'll proceed together," he said.
Czech President Petr Pavel welcomed the resumption of intergovernmental consultations between the Czech and Slovak cabinets, but pointed out that the memorandum signed by the prime ministers contains nothing new. Pavel said it was positive that relations between the two countries were returning to normal, including regular government sessions.
The first joint meeting of the Slovak and Czech cabinets took place in 2012. The most recent planned intergovernmental consultations, which were scheduled for late April and early May 2024, didn't take place. The Czech government at the time suspended them, citing disagreement with certain steps taken by the Slovak cabinet in foreign policy and in particular Slovakia's stance on the war in Ukraine. Previously, the governments had met in April 2023 in Trencin. To date, eight such joint meetings have been held.
Source: TASR
