Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico wrote a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen criticizing plans to abandon Russian gas.
Points of attention
- The Slovak Prime Minister criticizes the EU's REPowerEU strategy to stop Russian gas supplies, citing negative impact on Slovak households and businesses.
- Fico calls for postponement of the vote on EU sanctions against Russia until gas supply risks are resolved, highlighting lack of consensus in Slovakia.
Fico complained to von der Leyen about EU plans towards Russia
He published the text of the letter on his social network X.
Fico sent an official letter to von der Leyen, in which he sharply criticized the European Commission's proposal to stop Russian gas supplies after January 1, 2028, as part of the REPowerEU strategy.
LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION URSULA VON DER LEYEN ✉️
— Robert Fico 🇸🇰 (@RobertFicoSVK) July 16, 2025
Dear Madam President of the European Commission,
I appreciate the efforts of the European Commission (EC) to offer the Slovak Republic (SR) solutions to the extremely negative impacts of the proposal to… pic.twitter.com/A7IJKmadvZ
The Prime Minister of Slovakia said that his country "will never support" this initiative in terms of gas supply, as it harms Slovak households, businesses and threatens the competitiveness of the entire EU.
According to the Prime Minister, the European Commission, by promoting REPowerEU, is "grossly ignoring the political mandate of the European Council."
He also stressed that his position on this is "consistent and should not come as a surprise," even though Slovakia does not have veto power over REPowerEU.
Fico stressed that Bratislava views this proposal as a "sanction" and links it to the 18th package of EU sanctions against Russia. Therefore, according to him, Slovakia expects that the vote on the sanctions package will take place only after the elimination of significant risks to gas supplies.
The Prime Minister also noted that there is not even a "minimal consensus" in Slovakia to support the European Commission's position, and business representatives have an "extremely negative opinion" about the initiative.
As a result, Fico called on von der Leyen to use the coming hours and days to continue the dialogue with the Slovak government, in particular for a "clear interpretation of the European Commission's commitments."
Until then, Bratislava will request a postponement of the vote on the 18th package of sanctions.
