Opposition: Government Unable to Find Systemic Solution to Fuel Prices

Bratislava, 18 March (TASR) - The government's effort to address the crisis associated with rising global oil prices and fuel costs in Slovakia is insufficient, offering only chaotic measures instead of systemic solutions, several opposition parties stated following the cabinet session on Wednesday. "[Prime Minister] Robert Fico is just demonstrating his incompetence. All we've learned is how the price of petrol and diesel will increase for those who are not Slovaks or those coming from abroad to refuel. But as far as Slovaks are concerned, we learned absolutely nothing. It was once again extra work for the Slovnaft [refinery] and the Hungarian company MOL," opposition MP Julius Jakab ('Slovakia'-'For the People' caucus) told a press conference. Igor Matovic, leader of the 'Slovakia' party, pointed to technical absurdities, considering the €400 limit per refuelling for freight transport to be detached from reality, since an average lorry needs to take on approximately 1,000 litres, costing up to €1,600 at today's prices. "Robert Fico has thus told hauliers that if they want to export goods from Slovakia, they must visit four different petrol stations just to fill their tanks," said Matovic. Ivan Stefunko, vice-chair of the opposition Progressive Slovakia (PS) party, said that Fico has once again shown his helplessness, describing the government's solution to address the oil crisis as unrealistic. According to him, Fico has staked everything on Russian oil over the last 20 years, making the country highly sensitive to crises as he refused to diversify energy sources despite oil flowing through a war zone, while lobbying only for Russia's interests. "The result is the same as with consolidation. People will pay for the prime minister's and the entire government's failures, as some petrol stations will close, leaving them unable to stock up on fuel," he added. Fico announced following the cabinet session on Wednesday that 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. 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. jrg