THE AMBITION of the Slovak government to bring the headquarters of the new European energy regulation coordination office to Bratislava failed. A vote by EU member states decided that the Agency for Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) will be based in the Slovenian capital, Ljubljana, the SITA newswire reported.
The agency will start its activities on March 3, 2011. Slovakia’s Economy Ministry reported that Slovenia won 11 votes in the first round, Slovakia eight and Romania seven. The second round ended with 15 votes in favour of Slovenia and 11 for Slovakia. Sweden, currently at the helm of the EU, did not vote.
“It is important for us that we have finished second. The largest EU countries and economies such as Germany, France, Italy and Austria spoke in favour of Slovakia,” said Economy Minister Ľubomír Jahnátek.
“The voting was influenced by Hungary’s attitude and it played tactical games at last week’s meeting of the Visegrad Group in Budapest," he added. "It is now clear that they might have decided at that time to support Slovenia. Nothing can be done now, life goes on. We accept the outcome and thank all those who supported us.”
