Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who was in Bucharest on Friday on an official visit, said that the development of bilateral projects is being affected by the fact that the European agenda is "heavy and demanding".
Fico also extended an invitation to Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan to visit Bratislava.
Our agenda in the European Union is so heavy and demanding, and it disrupts us so much that we no longer have time for bilateral relations, and because of this we are losing extremely important opportunities. Yes, it is true that our turnover stands at five billion euros, but why can't it be seven, why not eight billion? Because we don't have time for ourselves, because a large part of our agenda is focused on Brussels, on issues that block us and do not give us time to dedicate ourselves to bilateral projects, Robert Fico said at a joint press conference with Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan.
The Slovak head of government drew attention to the issue of electricity prices and called for a reform of the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS).
We have a joint issue: the price of electricity. I am highly unsure about the European Commission's stance on this matter. The most urgent aspect is the price of electricity, therefore I expect the Commission to come forward with an urgent proposal, and here, together with Romania, we can put much higher pressure on the European Union for proposals to come as quickly as possible and be as concrete as possible. And we agreed that, in principle, the simplest step is to reform the ETS, that is the emissions-trading system, which influences the price of electricity, he argued.
Regarding energy cooperation, Fico noted that his country uses nuclear energy, just like Romania. He mentioned that Slovakia has used Russian technology, but has also begun building a new plant that runs on Canadian nuclear technology.
He also said that his country is following with interest the Neptun Deep project, which will provide Romania with additional oil resources, pointing out that if Romania intends to export gas, Slovakia is ready to offer to use existing infrastructure and will be interested in this gas on a commercial basis. Political decisions have been taken to end all imports of Russian gas and oil to the Slovak Republic in 2027. This is why such cooperation is of particular interest to us, Fico added.
The Slovak prime minister also said that the Defense ministers of the two countries have exchanged views and information with a view to cooperation under the SAFE program, stressing that both countries have allocated certain financial budgets, and that there is considerable potential for cooperation.
Prime Minister Fico also welcomed the fact that the Culture ministers of the two countries have signed a five-year bilateral cooperation memorandum.
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