Babis Asks Fico to End Oil Emergency, He Promises This When Conditions Are Met

Bratislava, 31 March (TASR) - I've asked Slovak Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) to lift Slovakia's state of emergency concerning oil, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis announced at a joint press briefing following a meeting of the two countries' cabinets at Nova Horka Castle in the Czech Republic on Tuesday. Fico promised him that the oil emergency will be lifted as soon as certain conditions are met. "We want MOL's Bratislava refinery to be operating at 100-percent capacity and MOL's Hungarian refinery to be operating at 100-percent capacity as well; this is important for the entire region. And I asked the prime minister for Slovakia to end the oil emergency, because this naturally affects us," stated Babis, emphasising that this is a pan-European problem. "But we can't wait for the European Commission because, unfortunately, it doesn't even take our comments into account when it comes to energy measures as such," he added. The Slovak prime minister responded by saying that Slovakia had to declare an oil emergency because the law requires such a procedure. "If the state wants to lend its oil reserves, it must declare a state of emergency concerning oil. We've allocated a certain volume that is available to the Slovnaft refinery. The refinery drew from this volume, which made it possible to ensure fuel production in Bratislava, which is vital," said Fico, adding that oil is gradually beginning to return to Slovakia's state reserves. "Therefore, once these storage facilities, which fall under the control of the state material reserves, are refilled, there will be no reason to maintain the state of emergency concerning oil," he declared. Fico also said that the government regulation that introduced dual diesel prices and set limits will expire after 30 days. Regarding the issue of dual pricing, Babis noted that it would be better to address the problem on a regional level. "Slovakia has decided to do so. They are in a different situation because Slovakia gets 100 percent of its fuel supply from the refinery in Bratislava, while we import 30 percent of our fuel, so I think we've agreed in some way on how we'll proceed together," he said. On 18 March, the Slovak government adopted measures by decree to limit diesel fuel consumption during the oil emergency. Diesel fuel may only be purchased for the vehicle's tank and one container with a maximum capacity of ten litres. Refuelling is limited to €400 per vehicle. The government has also restricted the export of diesel fuel from Slovakia on a temporary basis. am/df