Fico: Gov't Putting Temporary Limit on Diesel Sale and Export in Slovakia

Bratislava, 18 March (TASR) - The government has adopted a regulation that will limit, for the next 30 days, the volume of diesel that can be bought at petrol stations in Slovakia, Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) announced following the cabinet session on Wednesday. The government has also put a temporary limit on exports of diesel from Slovak territory. At the same time, a special price for diesel, set as the average price for Austria, the Czech Republic and Poland, will apply at petrol stations for all vehicles registered outside Slovak territory. Fico recalled that the government had previously declared a state of oil emergency due to the need to supply the Slovnaft refinery with crude oil from state reserves, thereby allowing further measures to restrict diesel consumption. He said dozens of petrol stations in northern Slovakia have literally run dry due to significantly lower prices compared to Poland. According to Fico, the government has decided to take restrictive or even extreme measures. "There's probably no other way in a situation where [Ukrainian President] Mr Zelenskyy is helping us like this," stated Fico. According to him, the regulation will be in effect for a period of 30 days, most likely starting Thursday (19 March) when it is published in the Collection of Laws, and it could be extended as necessary. He again rejected opposition criticism regarding high fuel prices, noting that Slovakia has the cheapest diesel compared to the other Visegrad Four (V4) countries [the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland] and is significantly cheaper than in Austria. "Regarding petrol, we are at the same price level as other V4 countries but cheaper than Austria," he said. He also stated that the Slovak government's stance regarding the EU leaders' summit starting Thursday (19 March) in Brussels remains unchanged. "I confirm that I will not vote for the part of the summit conclusions concerning Ukraine. So far, we see no willingness to include in this part of the conclusions any reference to the Druzhba oil pipeline or to the need to address this issue," warned Fico, adding that all of this is linked to the loan for Ukraine which is currently blocked by Hungary. He also criticised the absence of Slovak and Hungarian representatives in the EU mission tasked with inspecting the Druzhba pipeline. "If someone wants to send a delegation to determine the actual state of the Druzhba pipeline while excluding representatives of Slovakia and Hungary, we consider it a bad joke," added Fico. jrg