Just hours before a Brussels-brokered meeting to find a solution was scheduled to take place, Fico’s government issued a statement claiming the Ukrainian side had walked out of the discussions.
“The European Commission has decided to cancel the meeting due to the non-attendance of the Ukrainian side,” the Slovak government said.
However, Vsevolod Chentsov, Ukraine’s EU ambassador, told POLITICO that these claims are false and that the meeting was in fact set to discuss Fico’s warning that Kiev could disrupt power supplies to the grid. He claimed that he started it for the sake of it.
“Ukraine triggered the early warning mechanism on power supplies not because of gas transit negotiations, but because of Fico’s threat to cut off supplies,” Chentsov said.
According to him, Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushenko had planned to attend the discussions in Brussels, but was forced to stay home “due to the difficult situation in the energy sector.” Committee officials suggested that Kiev reschedule the meeting for another date instead of accepting its offer to hold an online meeting, the ambassador added.
“The Commission stands ready to follow up and discuss the implications of ending the public transport agreement with all relevant parties,” an EU executive spokesperson told POLITICO. “We continue to remain in close contact.”
Lobbying for an extension of the gas transport contract, Slovakia and Hungary argued that ending the contract would lead to a severe price crisis or supply shortage. But according to EU officials, these measures have not yet materialized.
