{"id":432566,"date":"2025-07-16T13:45:29","date_gmt":"2025-07-16T11:45:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2025\/07\/16\/ucraina-la-slovacchia-continua-a-mettersi-di-traverso-sulle-sanzioni-alla-russia\/"},"modified":"2025-07-16T15:21:46","modified_gmt":"2025-07-16T13:21:46","slug":"ukraine-slovakia-continues-to-block-sanctions-against-russia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2025\/07\/16\/ukraine-slovakia-continues-to-block-sanctions-against-russia\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine: Slovakia continues to block sanctions against Russia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels – It is a no-go on the 18th package of sanctions<\/strong> against Moscow. Delaying the adoption of the new restrictive measures, which the High Representative Kaja Kalla<\/strong>s hoped to finalize during yesterday’s Foreign Affairs Council<\/strong>, is once again Robert Fico<\/strong>‘s Slovakia. Bratislava is dissatisfied with the reassurances offered by the Commission<\/strong> on Russian gas supplies<\/strong>, which the EU executive wants to ban by the end of 2027.<\/p>\n

The letter sent yesterday (15 July) by the Commission, signed by Ursula von der Leyen<\/strong> herself, “does not offer Slovakia sufficient guarantees<\/strong>” regarding the crucial issue of cheap gas supplies from Russia<\/strong>. With these words, shared on social media on the same day, Prime Minister Robert Fico<\/strong> closed the door on discussions on the 18th sanctions package against the Kremlin<\/strong>, lengthening a political tug-of-war<\/strong> that
\nhas been dragging on for months<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\nThe EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Kaja Kallas<\/strong>, had hoped that the adoption of the new round of restrictive measures, presented by the twelve-star executive in early June<\/a>, could take place during the meeting of the Foreign Ministers<\/strong> of the 27 member states held yesterday in Brussels<\/a>. But it will have to wait, again.<\/p>\n

\"Robert<\/a>
Slovak prime minister Robert Fico (sinistra) and Russian president Vladimir Putin (photo: Gavriil Grigorov\/Afp via Sputnik)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Fico justified Slovakia’s opposition<\/a> to the package based on energy security concerns<\/strong> in Bratislava. The national-populist prime minister (one of Vladimir Putin<\/strong>‘s closest allies in Europe, along with his Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orb\u00e1n<\/strong>) is linking the adoption of sanctions against Moscow,<\/strong> which require unanimity, to the EU energy transition<\/strong> within the framework of the RePower EU strategy.<\/p>\n

The Brussels Plan<\/a>, which Fico described as “absurd,” envisions the gradual phase-out of fossil fuels imported by the Federation by 2028<\/strong>, including natural gas, with a decision to be taken by a qualified majority among the Member States<\/strong> (and which, therefore, Fico would not be able to block).<\/p>\n

\nSlovak Prime Minister
\ndug in his heels<\/a> during the June EU summit<\/strong>, calling for guarantees to protect its economy<\/strong>, which is heavily dependent on Russian gas imports. However, he continues to declare himself open to negotiating an agreement<\/strong> that could “guarantee a certain comfort level<\/strong>” for the central European country. If Bratislava receives acceptable assurances about mitigating the impact of the phase out<\/i><\/strong>, he says, he will no longer block the adoption of sanctions.<\/p>\n

\"Ursula<\/a>
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen (photo: Dati Bendo\/European Commission)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Fico’s preferred solution would be a national exemption until 2034<\/strong>, when the long-term supply contract signed with Gazprom<\/strong>, Russia’s state-owned energy giant, is set to expire. Otherwise, he claims, Bratislava would face a lawsuit and may have to pay a fine of up to EUR 20 billion<\/strong>. However, the Commission is having none of it and points out that legal prohibitions imposed at the EU level can be invoked as force majeure<\/strong> in litigation with Gazprom.<\/p>\n

To lend a helping hand to the Slovak government, von der Leyen proposed setting up a task force<\/i> to examine the country’s needs and monitor its green transition, assisting Bratislava in devising and implementing <\/strong>various types of technical, economic, and regulatory solutions<\/strong>, including a more flexible use of state aid and the use of EU funds to compensate for losses due to the phase out<\/i> and energy diversification<\/strong>. In addition, she reiterated the possibility of using an “emergency brake” to temporarily suspend the application of the gas import ban<\/strong> if extreme price spikes are reached.<\/p>\n

\"Kaja<\/a>
EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Kaja Kallas (photo: European Council)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Fico, whose coalition partners at home would categorically oppose the Brussels openings, rejected all proposals, to the frustration of von der Leyen and Kallas<\/strong>. The former Estonian prime minister said yesterday that she was “really sad” that the agreement had not been reached and reiterated that “we were really close” to convincing Slovakia<\/strong>, emphasizing that “these negotiations have been going on for a long time” and pointing the finger at the obstructive attitude of the government in Bratislava<\/strong>, which, she complained, constantly presents new conditions. “Now the ball is in Slovakia’s court,” she added.<\/p>\n

The technical discussions<\/strong>, at the Coreper ambassador level, are continuing today. The hope is to reach an agreement by the end of the week: “I am optimistic and still hopeful” <\/strong>that there will be a decision today, Kallas said yesterday. Perhaps a boost to the Slovak premier could come from the announced intention of Donald Trump<\/strong>‘s White House to impose heavy “secondary tariffs”<\/strong> on all of Moscow’s trade partners<\/strong> if there is no progress in negotiations with Ukraine<\/strong> in the next 50 days.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To break the deadlock, Prime Minister Robert Fico calls for Bratislava’s exemption from the Commission’s plan regarding the phase-out of fossil fuels imported from the Federation by 2028<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7876,"featured_media":432554,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25707],"tags":[26327,25802,31262,31466,26359,27555,26360],"class_list":["post-432566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-politics","tag-18-packet-sanctions-en","tag-robert-fico-en","tag-gas-russo-en","tag-slovakia-and"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7876"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=432566"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432566\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":432567,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432566\/revisions\/432567"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}