Slovakia to sue EU over Russian gas ban

Prime Minister Robert Fico says the bloc abused its power by seeking to force the country to stop buying energy from Moscow

Slovakia will file a lawsuit with the EU’s Court of Justice challenging the bloc’s decision to ban imports of Russian gas, Prime Minister Robert Fico has said.

In January, the EU formally approved a plan to phase out supplies of Russian pipeline gas by 2027, overriding vetoes from Slovakia and Hungary.

“We object that where it was not possible to use a qualified majority, it was used, and that the right of a sovereign EU member state to veto something was circumvented,” Fico said at a press conference on Friday, as quoted by TASR.

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“According to the Slovak government, this is a clear violation of all the principles on which the EU treaties are based,” he added.

Justice Minister Boris Susko said the lawsuit would be filed next week, while Fico stated that Slovakia would seek an injunction suspending the regulation.

Hungary, whose outgoing prime minister Viktor Orbán argued that the EU has “shot itself in the lungs” by imposing sanctions on Russia in response to the Ukraine conflict, filed a similar lawsuit in February. Fico has also strongly criticized what he described as “suicidal” sanctions and urged the bloc to engage diplomatically with Moscow.

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