Economy Minister Pavol Rusko will probably request an extra week from November 3 to negotiate the sale of a 66 percent stake in power producer Slovenské elektrárne (SE) to Italian company Enel.
Economy Ministry spokesman Maroš Havran told news wire TASR that Rusko had a week ago expressed his dissatisfaction with how the negotiations with Enel were proceeding. The Italian company was proving to be inflexible as regards requests from the Slovak side.
"We have information about a more positive approach from Enel, however it still does not meet our expectations. Minister Rusko intends to ask the Government to extend the deadline one more week," Havran told TASR.
The negotiations with Enel should have been completed by November 2 according to an October 6 government resolution. But they are continuing, says Peter Mitka, of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the government's advisor on the deal.
Mitka is supposed to consult with Rusko about the results of the negotiations before the November 3 cabinet session, where Rusko is due to propose the next step in the privatisation process.
Last week Rusko declared that there were three choices - to continue negotiations with Enel, to stop the privatisation process, or to start discussions with the Czech company CEZ, the second-placed bidder in the tender.
Compiled by Beata Balogová from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
