The European Commissioner for Energy, Dan Jørgensen, and the Slovak Prime Minister, Robert Fico, accompanied by his Minister for the Economy, Denisa Saková, held talks in Brussels on Thursday 9 January on the consequences of the end of the agreement on the transit of Russian gas via Ukraine (see EUROPE 13551/13).
The exchange was originally due to take place earlier in the week, on 7 January, but was cancelled. Bratislava explained this postponement as being due to Kyiv’s withdrawal, but gave no further details.
At the end of Thursday’s meeting, Mr Fico told the European press that he was determined not to increase tensions, but did not withdraw his threats of “reciprocal measures” against Ukraine if the country continued to block Russian gas exports.
He maintained the possibility of cutting off emergency electricity supplies to Ukraine and interrupting humanitarian aid, but also threatened to use his right of veto within the EU on Ukrainian issues.
Kyiv’s decision not to renew the contract signed in 2019 between Gazprom and Naftogaz for the transit of Russian gas through its territory to countries in the east of the European Union has been criticised for several months by the Slovak government.
Mr Fico caused controversy when he travelled to Moscow on 22 December to discuss the situation with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In the meantime, he accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of “sabotage”, explaining that the end of the agreement represented a loss of more than €500 million in transit fees that Bratislava received for transporting gas to neighbouring countries such as the Czech Republic and Hungary.
Following the meeting between Mr Jørgensen and Mr Fico, the European Commission said in a statement that both parties would continue to monitor the situation closely, “at both political and technical level”.
They also announced that they had agreed to set up a high-level working group “to follow up and identify options based on a joint assessment of the situation and see how the EU can help”. (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)