Economy Ministry: Samsung to End Production in Slovakia Over Energy Costs

Bratislava, 27 February (TASR) - Samsung will end manufacturing operations at its plant in Slovakia due to high energy prices in Europe, the Economy Ministry declared on Friday. According to the ministry, the EU's strategic direction has long been undermining the competitiveness not only of Slovakia but of the entire European Union compared with Asia, America and other regions of the world, reads a press release sent to the media. "The decision concerns exclusively the closure of the manufacturing plant, while the company will continue its other activities in Slovakia,” the Economy Ministry said. In this context, the ministry will coordinate further steps in cooperation with the relevant ministries, social partners and Samsung in order to mitigate the impact of the decision on employees as much as possible. The ministry added that it is seeking to ensure the smoothest possible transition of employees to new jobs and is in contact with major investors in Slovakia who have expressed interest in workers affected by the production shutdown. One of them is Jaguar Land Rover Slovakia, which has declared interest in hiring around 300 production workers and approximately 80 technically qualified employees this year. Stellantis Slovakia plans to increase the share of Slovak employees and hire around 800 workers by the end of the year. Gotion High-tech has also expressed interest in the affected employees. "In the event that employee retraining is necessary, Slovakia is ready to use the instruments of the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF), which is intended to support workers affected by large-scale restructuring," the ministry added. mf