Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has criticised a European Commission proposal to phase out imports of Russian energy in response to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine and claimed that an EU ban on Russian nuclear fuel would be "the biggest danger" and a direct threat to Europe's energy security.

Source: Euractiv, an EU-focused news and analysis website, as reported by European Pravda

Details: Slovakia, Bulgaria, Czechia, Finland and Hungary generate electricity using Russian-designed nuclear reactors, and most of them remain reliant on Russian fuel supplies until alternative sources become fully available.

Fico directly criticised the European Commission's plan to phase out imports of Russian energy in response to the invasion of Ukraine and the 2022 energy crisis. The plan is known as REPowerEU.

In his speech, the Slovak prime minister noted that Slovakia had signed a nuclear energy agreement with the United States in September. The agreement is related to Bratislava's plan to build a new 1,000-megawatt reactor at the Jaslovské Bohunice nuclear power plant.

"I believe that this is a step which will be important not just for Slovakia, but it will be important for the whole Europe, especially for Central Europe," he said.

Background:

• Fico, who like his Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orbán has maintained close ties with the Kremlin since the outbreak of the full-scale war in Ukraine, has long been a critic of EU efforts to cut dependence on Russian energy.
• In his speech, he called the REPowerEU plan "an unfortunate document" and "complete nonsense", stating that Slovakia "will never agree" to the Commission's proposal to ban all imports of Russian gas.
• Slovakia and Hungary are the only two EU countries openly opposing efforts to end reliance on Russian energy.
• However, unlike economic sanctions, which require unanimous approval by EU governments, Bratislava and Budapest cannot easily block REPowerEU.

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