Slovakia’s prime minister Robert Fico has urged the European Commission to consider a four- to five-year suspension of the European Union’s Emissions Trading System (ETS), arguing that high energy costs are harming strategic industries and raising consumer prices.
In a letter to Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, Fico wrote that
the future of the European Union depends very much on whether we will dogmatically insist on insufficiently considered ambitious climate targets that destroy the strategic European industry, or whether we have the strength and courage to make meaningful reductions.
Fico highlighted the closure of aluminum producer Slovalco in 2022 as a consequence of rising electricity prices.
Due to absurdly high electricity prices, Slovalco, jsc., held by Norwegian and Slovak owners, had to discontinue primary aluminium production in the Slovak Republic in 2023
After noting that the plant produced roughly 10% of the EU’s primary aluminum, he added that the shutdown led to the loss of 450 direct jobs and over 1,000 indirect positions.
Fico noted that “the situation in strategic industrial sectors in individual Member States is more critical than it may appear in Brussels,” while highlighting that the EU’s substantial spending on Ukraine is taking priority, despite “no military solution,” adding
It is natural that the citizens of EU Member States expect that the future of the European Union, which is vulnerable without a strong economy, deserves the same attention and resources.
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