Fico: Zelenskyy Requested €70-billion Loan, Slovakia Not Taking Part

Brussels, 16 October (TASR-correspondent) – Slovakia, along with the other countries of the Visegrad Four Group (V4: the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia), has succeeded in pushing through its demands at the European Union (EU) summit in Brussels to address high electricity prices and to review the Emissions Trading System (ETS), Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) announced on Friday, adding that so far there's no agreement among EU-member states on the EU's future long-term budget for 2028-2034. He also rejected Slovakia's participation in a further €70-billion loan for Ukraine for 2027, TASR has learnt from its special correspondent. Fico praised cooperation among the V4 countries, adding that Italy had also joined their efforts and played an important role in the negotiations on energy prices. "We instructed the European Commission to quickly respond and come up with further measures to tackle high electricity prices, but above all, to address the huge differences in electricity prices between EU member states," he said. According to Fico, the summit conclusions also include a demand to review the ETS, as well as a mechanism allowing the use of the emissions allowance reserve for tackling sharp increases in prices. Slovakia also wants to assess the impact of the ETS2 system on households and other sectors, added Fico. As regards the EU's future long-term budget for 2028-2034, the prime minister said that member states are currently far from reaching an agreement. "There's absolutely no agreement. There are countries that want to reduce their contributions to the EU budget [...] We understand that the German federal chancellor, as the largest contributor, is considering how to reduce those contributions because he has to deliver something back home. What we're saying, however, is that if we understand their position, we should at least preserve cohesion - that is, reducing regional disparities - and the Common Agricultural Policy," said Fico. According to him, reaching an agreement by the end of the year, as urged by European Council President Antonio Costa, will be difficult. He also warned against making a mandatory cap of €100,000 on agricultural subsidies, adding that this could seriously affect the Slovak agriculture sector which is based on large farms. Fico also stated that it would be "dangerous" to link the negotiations on the future EU's budget with funding for Ukraine. According to him, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked for a further €70 billion for 2027, mainly for military purposes. Fico reiterated that Slovakia wouldn't participate in this financial mechanism, adding that Hungary adopted a similar stance. According to him, Slovakia wants to support Ukraine in other ways, for instance, through projects in education, road infrastructure and energy interconnections. He also criticised what he viewed as insufficient discussion at the summit regarding peace initiatives and efforts to end the war between Russia and Ukraine. Fico left the EU summit in Brussels prematurely on Friday afternoon, skipping talks on migration, the EU's defence and security, and developments in the Middle East. During the talks on migration, he was represented by Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis. Fico has already landed in Serbia, where he's due to attend an election rally in Novi Sad to support former Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic. jrg