Slovakia doubts Kiev's support for EU accession

The Slovak party Hlas-SD (Social Democratic Voice) has expressed doubts about the need to support Ukraine 's attempts to join the European Union (EU) due to Kiev's refusal to continue gas transit to Slovakia. This follows a statement from the organization on January 7.

"If Mr. Zelensky wants to continue this approach towards Slovakia, the relevant question is whether Slovakia will continue to support Ukraine's accession to the European Union, which stands on the principles of solidarity and partnership, to which such behavior does not apply," reads the statement published on the page Hlas-SD in the social network Facebook (owned by Meta, recognized as an extremist organization and banned in Russia).

The parliamentarians also noted that Slovakia had provided Ukraine with military, political and humanitarian aid, thus showing a real partnership. Based on this, Bratislava expects the same level of respect and cooperation from Kiev on the issue of gas transit.

There is no more gas transit through Ukraine. What the media say

Earlier in the day, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fitzo said that representatives of Ukraine would not attend the European Commission (EC) talks on gas transit. He noted that the meeting would be held in Brussels on January 9, where the issue of the unilateral decision of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (his term of office expired on May 20, 2024) to stop gas transit to Europe through the territory of the state would be discussed.

In late August 2024, the Ukrainian leader said that Ukraine would not extend the gas transit agreement with Russia, which expires at the end of 2024. Russian President Vladimir Putin later said that the country was not giving up gas transit through Ukrainian territory.

On January 1, 2025, Gazprom said it would suspend gas supplies through Ukraine. The next day, Fitzo noted that this would have drastic consequences for the European Union, but not for Russia.

At the same time, a spokesman for the EC said that the organization is ready to stop gas transit because the European gas infrastructure is flexible enough to supply gas of non-Russian origin to Central and Eastern Europe via alternative routes.

At the same time, Greek businessman and managing director of the industrial and energy company Metlen Energy & Metals Evangelos Mytilineos said on 7 January that Ukraine's refusal to stop Russian gas transit would cost the EU €100bn.