The weakness, dependence and short-sightedness of the energy policy of the Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico pose threats to the whole of Europe.
For many years, Russia has been using energy as a weapon. For Moscow, it is a political lever, a tool for humiliating and threatening sovereign states, a source of corruption, dependence and blackmail in interactions with foreign politicians.
On this background, the pan-European trend is the rejection of Russian energy supplies, increasing energy independence, diversification of supply sources and, as a result, increasing energy security for every European family and household.
A recent example of the rejection of Russian gas is Austria, which for many years had no alternatives to energy supplies from the Russian Federation, but eventually found the opportunity to abandon them thanks to the wise and far-sighted policy of the government.
Against this backdrop, the persistent attempts by the head of the Slovak government to maintain energy dependence on Moscow, contrary to EU policy and the joint work of European countries on diversifying energy supplies, are surprising.
During the year, his actions were actually aimed at helping Russia oust American and other gas from the European market, deepening Europe's dependence and weakening our continent.
This time could have been used to resolve all existing problems and find mutually acceptable solutions in coordination with European partners and, in particular, neighboring states. Ukraine has repeatedly emphasized its readiness to consider relevant requests from the European Commission, but the Prime Minister of Slovakia charted a different course.
Ukraine is paying the highest price — the price of human lives — for deterring Russian aggression and protecting European homes, including Slovak ones, from Russian murderers. We will not accept the shameful policy of appeasement, which has already proven its fallacy in the last century. The Slovak side should remember this better than others.
We call on all European partners to work together to reduce dependence on Russian energy supplies and strengthen Europe's energy security.