Fitzo said the European Union may collapse

The European Union (EU) may disintegrate sooner than politicians can imagine. This statement was made by Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fitzo on January 8, commenting on the situation with Ukraine's stopping gas transit to the country from Russia.

"Looking at the EU, I am afraid that it will collapse sooner than we can imagine," he said in a video message published on Facebook (owned by the organization Meta, which is recognized as extremist in Russia).

Fitzo stressed that the unilateral decision of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (his term expired on May 20, 2024) causes serious financial damage to Slovakia and the entire European Union. According to him, the damage for the country is estimated at €500m in transit fees and €1bn in gas price increases. At the same time, the damage to the EU will amount to about €70 billion.

"Tomorrow morning I am leaving for Brussels to meet with the [EU] energy commissioner. I will do my best to 'wake him up from his sweet sleep'. Because we have <...> a serious problem <...> in the tens of billions of euros," he added.

The Slovak prime minister also clarified that his visit to Russia in late December was aimed at securing gas for the state's domestic consumption.

"In Moscow, I did what I want to do tomorrow also in Brussels. I have solved and want to solve a serious problem. The damage of almost €1.5 billion that the ungrateful Ukrainian president is inflicting on Slovakia and the €70 billion damage he is inflicting on the entire EU," Fitzo added.

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

Earlier in the day, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto called Ukraine's termination of gas transit from Russia unacceptable. He also noted that this decision contradicts Kiev's intentions to join the EU.

The day before, Fitzo said that representatives of Ukraine would not attend the European Commission's talks on gas transit. He noted that the meeting will be held in Brussels on January 9, it will discuss the issue of Zelensky's unilateral decision to stop gas transit to Europe through the territory of the state.

Commenting on this, Slovak MEP Monika Benova on January 8 called Kiev's refusal to participate in the talks a sign of weakness of the Ukrainian leader.

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

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