Premier: General Strike Would Take Hundreds of Millions from Slovakia Every Day

Bratislava, 25 September (TASR) - The general strike being called by some opposition parties would cost Slovakia €1.65 billion in just five days, or €330 million per day, said Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) during Question Time in Parliament on Thursday, criticising the opposition, which, according to him, mainly wants to harm the current government by calling for a strike. Fico also commented on Russian oil and gas. According to him, Slovakia only accounts for a 2-percent share of exports of these energy raw materials from Russia. Thus, according to the premier, Slovakia doesn't contribute substantially towards financing the war in Ukraine by purchasing Russian energy raw materials. "Not to mention that the supply of gas and oil to Slovakia is not an ideological issue, but a geographical one," said Fico, adding that the country has no other options and can't take any oil because it would cost quite a lot of money and time for the refineries to prepare for this. He said it's in Slovakia's interests to maintain imports of energy raw materials from Russia because they are the cheapest option. The premier added that since 1 January of this year, when Ukraine stopped gas transit through Slovakia, the country has lost €500 million in transit fees. "We'll take all necessary initiatives in this regard. I'd like to inform you that Foreign Ministry State Secretary Marek Estok is leaving for a working trip in the United States, and one of his tasks will be to provide the American partners with all the necessary information on what is actually at stake regarding the supply of gas and oil to the territory of the Slovak Republic," stated Fico. am/df