Slovakia requests an exemption from any EU embargo imposed on Russian oil if it is among the latest sanctions against Russia, the Economy Ministry in Bratislava said on Tuesday in response to a question from the Reuters news agency.
The European Commission is now preparing the sixth package of sanctions against Moscow due to the war against Ukraine, and the proposal is expected to be finalized by Tuesday evening. On Monday, two EU officials stated that it is possible that the committee will exempt Slovakia and Hungary from the obligation of the oil embargo, because these two countries are significantly dependent on Russian supplies. Slovakia obtains almost exclusively Russian oil, and its reserves are only enough for 120 days. Hungary meets 65 percent of its crude oil needs from Russian imports.
The production of more petroleum derivatives cannot be solved immediately, the technology change required for this requires money and time, so Bratislava wants a longer transition period to replace the Russian oil delivered by pipeline, the ministry added in its reply.
Regarding the import of Russian gas, Slovakia's Secretary of State for Economy Karol Galek said: Slovakia will not break EU unity if an agreement is reached that none of the member states can pay in rubles for Russian gas, as Moscow demands. He noted that the European Commission "unfortunately" did not take a clear position on how the Russian gas bills could be settled. At the talks in Brussels, it was first discussed that it could be considered a violation of EU sanctions if a country pays for Russian gas in rubles, but this is no longer the case at all, since the member countries pay in euros, and the Russian state company Gazprom already receives rubles, said Galek.
Slovakian economy minister Richard Sulík said in a radio program a week ago: the government is doing everything in its power to ensure that the country becomes independent of natural gas and oil imports from Russia as soon as possible.
Source and image: Magyar Hírlap
