Hungarian Foreign Minister and Trade Minister Péter Szijjártó welcomes Slovak Foreign Minister Juraj Blanár at his office in Budapest, Hungary, November 14, 2024.
Slovakia is planning to hold talks with the European Union on extending the exemption to sanctions on Russian oil. This was stated by Slovak Foreign Minister Juraj Blanár, Bloomberg reports.
The statement was made at a press conference in Budapest after J. Blanár's meeting with his Hungarian counterpart, Peter Szijjártó.
The exemption, which expires on December 5, allows Slovakia's only refinery, Slovnaft (owned by the Hungarian MOL Group), to export petroleum products made from Russian oil to the Czech Republic. Without this permission, Slovakia will be able to supply its products only for the domestic market.
"We are quite openly saying that the Russian Federation has been a trusted partner for us. We have never had problems with the Russian Federation not fulfilling its contracts and deliveries. Whether it is nuclear fuel, gas, or oil," the Slovak Foreign Minister said [quoted by Aktuality].
"There’ll be a "huge fallout" if Slovnaft can’t process Russian supplies," J. Blanar said in Budapest on Thursday after meeting Peter Szijjarto. "The Russian Federation has been a trusted partner."
On his part, Peter Szijjarto noted that in terms of energy supply, they have shared interests when it comes to the purchase of crude oil and natural gas. "We’ve made it clear that we don’t want to cut off deliveries from the east because … that would gravely endanger both countries’ energy supply." He also said that while many experts had thought it unnecessary to build the natural gas interconnector linking Hungary and Slovakia, the strategic importance of connecting the two countries’ energy grids "quickly became clear." P. Szijjártó also highlighted the role of Slovak firms in the upgrade of Hungary’s Paks nuclear plant.
