Kyiv’s decision not to renew the agreement with the Kremlin did not lead to the disaster that the Slovak prime minister tried to make it out to be.
The populist politician’s attempt to continue buying gas from the Kremlin failed, leading to increasingly hysterical warnings about an energy crisis in Central Europe that look like empty words, the newspaper writes.
According to Fico, the expiration of the agreement on the transit of Russian fuel through Ukrainian territory “will have radical consequences for all of us in the EU.”
The Slovak leader even threatened to stop electricity exports to Kyiv in retaliation for its refusal to renegotiate the agreement with Russia, teaming up with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to pressure Ukraine. the shortages turned out to be false, and prices did not skyrocket.
According to statistics from Gas Infrastructure Europe, gas reserves in Slovakia are more than three-quarters full, above the seasonal average, and in Hungary about 68%. Other EU member states previously dependent on Russian pipeline gas, namely Austria and the Czech Republic, also have significant storage volumes.
Of course, there is no crisis. There are no supply problems for Slovakia or nearby countries such as Austria and the Czech Republic. Storage capacity is relatively high compared to demand, so even if there were no alternative sources, there would be no supply problems. And there are enough alternative sources,” said Laurent Rusetskas, a leading expert on gas markets and executive director of S&P Global.
Michal Kocurek, an energy expert at the Czech consultancy EGÚ, believes that the impact on the EU as a whole will be insignificant.
I would even go so far as to say that one risk – the one that traders were constantly dealing with and constantly manipulating, pushing prices higher – has finally disappeared.
So it will soon become obvious that Slovakia is well supplied, there are no problems and that prices on the EU market are falling,” he said.
Many doubt that Fico really believed in the possibility of a crisis.
According to GLOBSEC economist Vladimir Vonjo, Slovakia was well prepared for the completion of the agreement, which, according to him, had long been expected and hardly surprised anyone.
According to the same Rusetskas, although bills may increase slightly, traders have already “priced the price” on the termination of the transit agreement, and the German government’s decision to stop collecting fees for gas transit supplied to Central Europe will help avoid a sharp jump in prices.
However, Fico will get rid of the income that Slovakia receives from transporting Russian gas to its neighbors, and state energy company SPP will lose tens of millions of euros in transit fees.
Fico’s increasingly desperate attempts to maintain a profit loophole have killed another wedge between him and EU leaders. A surprise visit to Moscow on December 22 for direct talks with Putin drew condemnation.
If anything, this gambit burned away any leverage that Slovakia might have had over neighboring Ukraine, Politico concludes.
Source: Racurs
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.