15h ago

Slovakia’s leader rejects an EU plan to halt Russian natural gas imports by the end of 2027

Slovakia's leader rejects an EU plan to halt Russian natural gas imports by the end of 2027

Prime Minister Robert Fico said that the plan is “absolutely unacceptable” for Slovakia. He said that his government was ready to veto it and all Slovak representatives involved in the negotiations on the EU level would work to stop it.

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7h ago

Slovakia's leader rejects an EU plan to halt Russian natural gas imports by the end of 2027

apnews.com /article/slovakia-fico-eu-plan-halt-russian-gas-aa37148e4b4461b9d30fa826387be02a

13 comments

Please dear Slovakian friends could you get rid of this personified embarrassment for your otherwise very nice country
- We would love to. Looks promising for next election, but with how fragmented the opositipn is it is up in the air really. I already lost faith in my country on the whole, but there is some hope for it.

What a surprise. Orban will start barking too I guess. EU should really consider changing the laws regarding veto powers and funding when your country is a Russian puppet state.
- What's worst - Russian puppet forces in Europe are not funded by Russia. Well, maybe just a bit, but mostly very autonomous.
  So - just Putin's money stream possibly becoming smaller is alone not enough to weed that out.
  It's also a whole criminal culture, all these people have adopted mafia practices and just won't start behaving otherwise. It's been let out into an environment without immunity to it.
  All those countries with major political parties influenced by Russia, they won't ever be same as before. Belgium, France, Germany, Austria, not even talking about Hungary and Slovakia, but Hungary and Slovakia are actually better in this regard, because their leadership doesn't fear competition from not Putin-aligned parties, that sort of weakens their dependence. Not that mafia culture is something new anywhere in the world, but this particular kind carries learned lessons which were not taught outside of 70s' USSR till 00s' Russia area and period.
  What EU should consider is reducing the amount of levels of government, more agile membership and more direct democracies, and wide popular participation. From things like national guard to volunteers doing stuff instead of government agencies. And militaries with mandatory reserve training for everyone. And transparency. And changing politicians like condoms, not like buildings.

We might need some kind of tool to ensure EU governments stay loyal to the EU before external powers.
If possible, it should be something less extreme than forcibly expelling countries from the EU... but even that would be acceptable IMHO.
- We need something like qualified majority for pretty much all EU decisions. Maybe not new members or something like that, but general foreign policy, taxes and the like.

I swear, Poland got a sane government and Hungary finally has a chance with Tisza and Magyar Péter and now Slovakia and Romania just have to ruin the whole thing. If they get a chance they HAVE TO change the electoral system in the eu. This cannot go on, veto power always ruins and stalls international politics. Just look at the league of nations and its successor, the un. Nothing ever happens because of nations with a conflict of interest that posses veto power.
- None of those have been caused by EU elections, they're all national elections. The EU can't decide how countries run their national elections
  
  I think they meant EU voting. As in anything can be vetoed by one country that got fucked up along the way. And if there are two that watch each others back, there is no way to change that afaik

So he's willing to be dependent on Russia, especially as EU loses the reliability of one of its greatest historical allies, which also is the same one with the biggest arsenal.
If it's a matter of how quick it can be done, I understand that for some countries 2027 is too soon to adapt to such a big change, and wouldn't mind some form of leniency on the matter for such cases. But if by the time the contract ends in 2034 Slovakia doesn't think of an alternative along with other countries relying on Russian gas, it may as well invite Russia into it.
We're also not in an ideal position in terms of autonomous defense, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't find ways to be a more self-reliant continent who trades with others not because it needs, but because it wants.

Ursula von der Leyen: it's treason, then.
- It wouldn't even be his first treason. Not that he was ever tried.

I don't know if this is true for Slovakia, but if you industry is dependent on (cheap) gas, it's not easy nor cheap to transition to something else.
Also what is the alternative? One thing would be expensive gas from somewhere else, that might come from Russia via another country anyway. Then what about wind and solar? Well, with solar you become dependent on China, because Europe hasn't managed to be competitive at all. What about wind then? That's great, but we still need another source of power when the wind isn't blowing. Both solar and wind needs rare earth materiels not really found in Europe.
Also who should pay for all of this?

13 comments