Slovakia can forget energy security if the state is not involved, Prime Minister Robert Fico said at a meeting with the Association of Employer Unions and Organisations (AZZZ) on February 12, the TASR newswire wrote.
“If anybody thinks that it (energy security) can be ensured by the market, by foreign shareholders, or that it will just simply come about all by itself, they are very wrong,” stated Fico, adding that energy security is simply not possible without state intervention.
Fico also pointed out that during the recent gas crisis, when Russian natural gas supplies to Slovakia were disrupted for nearly two weeks, the government discovered that gas in reservoirs in Slovakia belonging to foreign shareholders was flowing abroad.
“A certain amount of statism is necessary in Slovakia,” he said.
According to the premier, the government operates according to a “middle constructive way” when dealing with the effects of the global economic crisis. The government does not want to endanger the state budget or public finances.
“As far as obtaining new resources for maintaining economic growth is concerned, we've chosen the way of further cuts in other areas,” he said, adding that the government will do everything possible to continue to meet the Maastricht criteria and will violate these only under exceptional circumstances. TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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