Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has warned that the European Union is “shooting itself in the knee” with its Russian energy ban, calling the REPowerEU initiative “complete nonsense.” Speaking at the European Nuclear Energy Forum (ENEF) in Bratislava, Fico criticised the EU’s ideologically driven approach, saying it undermines European competitiveness and risks energy security. Fico emphasised Slovakia’s reliance on Russian nuclear fuel for its Soviet-designed reactors, highlighting that the country generates around 60% of its electricity from nuclear power. He also outlined plans for a new reactor at Bohunice and stressed the importance of nuclear energy for Slovakia’s industrial growth. The Prime Minister argued that unless the EU abandons its ideological stance, European nations will struggle to remain competitive on the global stage. Watch his full speech here.
#EU #Slovakia #RobertFico #RussianEnergyBan #REPowerEU #NuclearEnergy #EnergySecurity #Brussels #EuropeanCompetitiveness #ENEF
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or I’d like to say that yesterday in Czech Republic a very important expert in this area died in Czech Republic. We will mention her name. She dedicated her professional work in the field of nuclear safety and for that reason I believe that this is an appropriate forum that Mrs. Draova the chairman the of the nuclear safety authority in Czech Republic that we remember her and I believe it will be symbolic if uh I ask you for a minute of silence to honor Mrs. Draova. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. [Music] [Music] Mr. Ambassador, please give our condolences to the family and relatives of Madame Chairman. Now, allow me to delve into the topic of the 18th Energy Nuclear Forum. I was actually at the beginnings 18 years ago. Maybe some people are unhappy that I’m still here, but I’m very pleased that I’m now in a very different atmosphere compared to the situation 18 years ago. I take the enthusiasm which madame moderator expressed at the beginning in relationship with the nuclear energy. But this was not the case before and you know this very well. We remember decisions where common sense was lacking. And I have to mention a decision when conditions were negotiated about the accession of Slovakia to the EU. And these conditions included the obligation to close two nuclear units in Yaslosk. They had to be decommissioned. It was in June 20, 2004. And I was scratching my head and asking myself what are we going to do? And for this reason to have some documents on the table means to foresee to predict and to make decisions for many years ahead. And we decided during our first mandate in the years 2006 until 2010 that the Italian company NL which was the majority shareholder of Slovak electricity worked that we will find supporters to complete third and fourth unit of the nuclear power plant in Moza. To be honest, I have to admit if two units were not decommissioned, we would not have the courage and rational reasons to continue the construction in Moz. [Music] Madame moderator, they were looking at me as if I was crazy in 2008 when we announced that we would complete Moz nuclear nuclear power plant. But we knew very well that nuclear energy plays an extremely important role in terms of uh energy safety. Therefore, I am delighted that today we are celebrating the 18th year of this excellent international event and we are meeting in the atmosphere when we are talking about nuclear energy with enthusiasm which is good. When we should talk about energy today, we should not just say whether they are environmentally in an friendly produced or if they are accessible in terms of price. Even though these two factors are important and I will mention them in my speech but we also need to talk about sufficient amount of energy. We talk need to talk about accessibility and stability and this cannot be achieved without nuclear energy. Let’s keep this in mind and I welcome very much madame director general at this event and I also want to thank the European Commission for changing its attitude to nuclear energy. We have two important programs the nuclear program from the European Commission from the summer and we have state aid framework for net for clean industry. These two documents are very important and we need them in this period and they set the stage to make sure that the nuclear alliance which we have here that it is viable and that it is guaranteed also in the basic documents of the European Commission and the European Union. This is an organization which we all support and which is struggling with so many issues at the moment. It will be very important that you send from here a very clear message to the world. It will not be possible without nuclear energy with all the risks which are related but it won’t be possible to do it without nuclear energy. Ladies and gentlemen, [Music] some time ago we had a joint meeting of the government with representatives of automotive industry. There’s a huge pressure on electric on the manufacturing of electric vehicles which will create pressure on production of electricity in Slovakia. Today we have five car manufacturers and we manufacture more than 1 million cars per year and there is so much pressure on electroomobility. So it is our estimate that our consumption may increase until 2040 by 40 to 60%. And we’ll need new sources for this. Moreover, Slovakia as a country, we have to apply for data centers and data centers also require a huge amount of electricity. We will also apply for battery storageages and battery storage also requires a lot of electricity and for this reason I welcome very much that the third unit has started. The fourth unit I expect should be commissioned at the beginning of next year. I thank everybody. This was not an easy task. Mr. Director General, you know how delighted I am when flying above Mo in the helicopter seeing the steam from these chimneys. That was the reason why it was built and we know how important this is for energy security of Slovakia. Let’s move on. Ladies and gentlemen, I’d like to announce you that on the 10th of September this year, the government signed and approved an interstate agreement between Slovaka government and the US government because we want to use the infrastructure of the nuclear power plant in Yaslo Bahunit. And we want to build into for an state into state ownership. We want to build another nuclear unit. its output will be higher than 440 which we have. It should be a unit with the output more than 1,000 megawatt. I believe that this is a step which will be important not just for Slovakia but it will be important for the whole Europe especially for central Europe. And if everybody says that one day it will cost a lot of effort after the war when the relationships will be defined in a new way. This decision will play an important role in this region. Someone may ask a question why are we going in a way of diversification? Why are we looking for cooperation in other markets? We started we tried to to cooperate with South Korea but there were some issues but it’s a matter of fact that the most probable scenario the most probable scenario is that on the basis of an agreement which we would like to sign with the US government even though it it it has been already agreed on the US side will be a cooperation with an American contractor but we’ll welcome if the US contractor will create a consortium with other entities. I understand that France would like to participate and there are other manufacturers who who could participate in this huge multi-billion project. Slovakia is a country which is able not just to build nuclear power plants. Madame director general saw yesterday in Mot how units three and four are being completed. The third was completed. Now we’re talking about the fourth unit and nobody can question the fact that we have people who are capable of building nuclear power plants which is a fantastic thing. But that’s not all. We are a country which is also interesting because we are able to decommission nuclear power plants. We can even remove the consequences of nuclear stories from 1970s. I don’t want to talk about nuclear accidents but let’s say the sto the story as we talk about hard stories let’s talk about nuclear stories I need to praise myself a bit distinguished ladies and gentlemen when it comes to de decommissioning of yaslok bahunit what we achieved there in the summer for instance there was a deasssembly of the biggest parts of the primary cycle it’s very important that contaminated concrete was removed from those pools where burnt fuel was stored. There were some other parts which had to be cleaned and then we started to deassemble all these huge facilities and cleaning. There were 4,300 tons of contaminated material with 98% efficiency which is a huge success. I believe that the decommissioning program in the Aslok Bhunit is a program for the whole world and we need to use it to maximum amount. We need to train as many people as possible because also in this cycle in this part of nuclear cycle we need to be successful for this reason. Thank you very much. Thank you to the commission for the cooperation at this demanding project. And I’d like to call upon all interested parties or all entities who are responsible for decommissioning in Yaslosk Bins to use this project to improve the good reputation of Slovakia and especially to show that we are an advanced country and we are actually one of the leaders I could say one of the world leaders in the field of nuclear energy even though we’re a small country which only has 5.5 million inhabitants. And that’s not all. We are a country which is interested in being an innovative country. I welcome the agreement which was signed by Yavis company which is the nuclear and decommissioning company with nuclear company in Italy. I was present at the signing of respective agreements and it’s not just the fact that we are interested in creating this small mod module reactors or doing some innovative events. For me the most interesting project of this collaboration is to create a center a center to process burned fuel and to prepare it for reuse. If we manage to do this, I can say again that we’ll be a leader in innovations and I’m looking forward to the cooperation. Thank you very much for coming to this event and thank you for supporting it in your with your presence. Ladies and gentlemen, at the beginning I was talking about common sense and I expressed the hope that the ideology will not make decisions anymore about things which are very important for us. There’s one unfortunate document on the table called repower EU. I don’t need to hide madame director general because you all know my opinion when it comes to rep power. It’s a complete nonsense when it comes to gas and when it comes to oil. We’re just shooting into our own knee. And I am prepared to quarrel with the European Commission on a at a 24-hour basis to constructively I will try to convince them that this is a nonsensical ideological step. Please do not look with the pro-Russian glasses at the reality. If you put away these glasses, you can take more rational decisions. The biggest danger, madame director general, is when this when nuclear fuel will be included into the document. And what would happen if someone says that we cannot take nuclear fuel from Russian Federation anymore? What would happen? Well, I I believe we all agree that you cannot put anything stick anything into the reactor, you know, any stick. So it requires I’m not an expert but I know at least that you cannot put into Mercedes you cannot put an engine for from Shkoda you know it doesn’t work like this if this happens you will threaten energy security energy safety of the EU on the other side United States of America don’t they take a lot of enriched uranium from Russian Federation well there is no ideology there and it doesn’t work but here we’re putting ideology into our decisions which endanger us and therefore as madame director general I’m openly saying that we will never agree with repowering when it comes to 1st of January 2028 what I mean is gas mainly and we will never agree with the fact that we adopt decisions which would damage energy security and today we we produce in Slovakia more than 60% electricity from nuclear energy and we’re a country which is important from this point of view not only for for Slovak territory it’s also important in terms of stability of this whole region as I said it’s not just the question of environment prices it’s al it also concerns accessibility and stability of energy supplies madame director general I use your presence here and I’d like to ask you let’s work on energy prices together please because in Europe we can do what we need for ourselves. How should we compete? What should we tell our manufacturers, companies in Slovakia? Why our electricity price is higher compared to the United States? Well, let’s not compare ourselves with China. Someone may say that Chinese standards in terms of environment are not as they are in Europe. But how should we compete? Please, due to these ideological decisions, [Music] Let’s not uh damage the European Union so that we do not prosper and for this reason the prices of energy. What are we going to do about automotive industry? What will be our attitude to repowering? What shall we do with the nuclear energy? These are important issues and not sanctions or whether we like something or don’t like something. Let’s just make order at home. Let’s be successful. Uh let’s make out of the EU the place where people have best lives. In 2010, Lisbon strategy was supposed to be performed. If I mistaken when it comes to the year, please correct me, but it was stated in Lisbon strategy then that in 2010 Europe or European Union will be the best place in the world to live when it comes to quality of life and everything. in 2010 and I was already the prime minister and we found out that we were not the best place. Then we took the Lisbon strategy and we threw it away to the basket. Then there was a agenda 2020 I believe and the result was is the same. Now we’re build we are setting ourselves incredible energy objectives. I’m waiting for the decisions of the summit in J when it comes to the combustion engines and and the ban of combustion engines until 2035 and I just believe that European Union European Commission will do it differently than we’ve done it so far and we will not adopt goals which are not realistic and which harm us. Slovakia is and wants to be a stable member of the European Union. Slovakia wants to contribute to make sure the EU is a successful project. But Slovakia is not the country which will be silent in spite of the fact that some people might consider us to be small and weak. But once again, Slovakia is not a country which will be silent. We have our government concept of a sovereign Slovak foreign policy. And this concept allows us to openly to to name things openly and clearly. And therefore, please if I said something in my speech which could be disturbing for someone. The only reason why I said it is that this is how I approach all topics I’m I have to face. And to be honest, in the past period, there are so many issues. Dear participants of the 18th European Nuclear Energy Forum, please use the opportunities that this forum gives you. Use it to the maximum extent. As I said at the beginning, I’ll be happy if uh at least one sentence will be spread, one message will be spread. Without nuclear energy, it won’t be possible. Thank you very equipment. Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, before I will tell you a few ideas on behalf of the Slovak government, allow me to make a short reminder or I’d like to say that yesterday in Czech Republic a very important expert in this area died in Czech Republic. We will mention her name. She dedicated her professional work in the field of nuclear safety and for that reason I believe that this is an appropriate forum that Mrs. Draova the chairman the of the nuclear safety authority in Czech Republic that we remember her and I believe it will be symbolic if uh I ask you for a minute of silence to honor Mrs. Draova. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. [Music] [Music] Mr. Ambassador, please give our condolences to the family and relatives of Madame Chairman. Now, allow me to delve into the topic of the 18th Energy Nuclear Forum. I was actually at the beginnings 18 years ago. Maybe some people are unhappy that I’m still here, but I’m very pleased that I’m now in a very different atmosphere compared to the situation 18 years ago. I take the enthusiasm which madame moderator expressed at the beginning in relationship with the nuclear energy. But this was not the case before and you know this very well. We remember decisions where common sense was lacking. And I have to mention a decision when conditions were negotiated about the accession of Slovakia to the EU. And these conditions included the obligation to close two nuclear units in Yaslosk. They had to be decommissioned. It was in June 20, 2004 and I was scratching my head and asking myself what are we going to do and for this reason to have some documents on the table means to foresee to predict and to make decisions for many years ahead. And we decided during our first mandate in the years 2006 until 2010 that the Italian company NL which was the majority shareholder of Slovak electricity works that we will find supporters to complete third and fourth unit of the nuclear power plant in Modula. To be honest, I have to admit if two units were not decommissioned, we would not have the courage and rational reasons to continue the construction in Mot. [Music] Madame moderator, they were looking at me as if I was crazy in 2008 when we announced that we would complete Moz nuclear nuclear power plant. But we knew very well that nuclear energy plays an extremely important role in terms of uh energy safety. Therefore, I am delighted that today we are celebrating the 18th year of this excellent international event and we are meeting in the atmosphere when we are talking about nuclear energy with enthusiasm which is good. When we should talk about energy today, we should not just say whether they are environmentally in an friendly produced or if they are accessible in terms of price. Even though these two factors are important and I will mention them in my speech but we also need to talk about sufficient amount of energy. We talk need to talk about accessibility and stability and this cannot be achieved without nuclear energy. Let’s keep this in mind and I welcome very much madame director general at this event and I also want to thank the European Commission for changing its attitude to nuclear energy. We have two important programs the nuclear program from the European Commission from the summer and we have state aid framework for net for clean industry. These two documents are very important and we need them in this period and they set the stage to make sure that the nuclear alliance which we have here that it is viable and that it is guaranteed also in the basic documents of the European Commission and the European Union. This is an organization which we all support and which is struggling with so many issues at the moment. It will be very important that you send from here a very clear message to the world. It will not be possible without nuclear energy with all the risks which are related but it won’t be possible to do it without nuclear energy. Ladies and gentlemen, [Music] some time ago we had a joint meeting of the government with representatives of automotive industry. There’s a huge pressure on electric on the manufacturing of electric vehicles which will create pressure on production of electricity in Slovakia. Today we have five car manufacturers and we manufacture more than 1 million cars per year and there is so much pressure on electromobility. So it is our estimate that our consumption may increase until 2040 by 40 to 60%. And we’ll need new sources for this. Moreover, Slovakia as a country we have to apply for data centers and data centers also require a huge amount of electricity. We will also apply for battery storageages and battery storage also requires a lot of electricity and for this reason I welcome very much that the third unit has started. The fourth unit I expect should be commissioned at the beginning of next year. I thank everybody. This was not an easy task. Mr. Director General, you know how delighted I am when flying above Moz in the helicopter seeing the steam from these chimneys. That was the reason why it was built and we know how important this is for energy security of Slovakia. Let’s move on. Ladies and gentlemen, I’d like to announce you that on the 10th of September this year, the government signed and approved an interstate agreement between Slovaka government and the US government because we want to use the infrastructure of the nuclear power plant in Yaslosk Bonita. And we want to build into for an state into state ownership. We want to build another nuclear unit. its output will be higher than 440 which we have. It should be a unit with the output more than 1,000 megawatt. I believe that this is a step which will be important not just for Slovakia but it will be important for the whole Europe especially for central Europe. And if everybody says that one day it will cost a lot of effort after the war when the relationships will be defined in a new way. This decision will play an important role in this region. Someone may ask a question why are we going in a way of diversification? Why are we looking for cooperation in other markets? We started we tried to cooperate with South Korea but there were some issues but it’s a matter of fact that the most probable scenario the most probable scenario is that on the basis of an agreement which we would like to sign with the US government even though it it it has been already agreed on the US side will be a cooperation with an American contractor but we’ll welcome if the US contractor will create a consortium with other entities. I understand that France would like to participate and there are other manufacturers who who could participate in this huge multi-billion project. Slovakia is a country which is able not just to build nuclear power plants. Madame director general saw yesterday in Moz how units three and four are being completed. The third was completed. Now we’re talking about the fourth unit and nobody can question the fact that we have people who are capable of building nuclear power plants which is a fantastic thing. But that’s not all. We are a country which is also interesting because we are able to decommission nuclear power plants. We can even remove the consequences of nuclear stories from 1970s. I don’t want to talk about nuclear accidents but let’s say the sto the story as we talk about hard stories let’s talk about nuclear stories I need to praise myself a bit distinguished ladies and gentlemen when it comes to de decommissioning of yaske what we achieved there in the summer for instance there was a deasssembly of the biggest parts of the primary cycle it’s very important that contaminated concrete was removed from those pools where burnt fuel was stored. There were some other parts which had to be cleaned and then we started to deasssemble all these huge facilities and cleaning. There were 4,300 tons of contaminated material with 98% efficiency which is a huge success. I believe that the decommissioning program in the Aslok Bonita is a program for the whole world and we need to use it to maximum amount. We need to train as many people as possible because also in this cycle in this part of nuclear cycle we need to be successful for this reason. Thank you very much. Thank you to the commission for the cooperation at this demanding project. And I’d like to call upon all interested parties or all entities who are responsible for decommissioning in Los Bhuna to use this project to improve the good reputation of Slovakia and especially to show that we are an advanced country and we are actually one of the leaders I could say one of the world leaders in the field of nuclear energy even though we’re a small country which only has 5.5 million inhabitants. And that’s not all. We are a country which is interested in being an innovative country. I welcome the agreement which was signed by Yavis company which is the nuclear and decommissioning company with nuclear company in Italy. I was present at the signing of respective agreements and it’s not just the fact that we are interested in creating this small mod module reactors or doing some innovative events. For me the most interesting project of this collaboration is to create a center a center to process burned fuel and to prepare it for reuse. If we manage to do this, I can say again that we’ll be a leader in innovations and I’m looking forward to the cooperation. Thank you very much for coming to this event and thank you for supporting it in your with your presence. Ladies and gentlemen, at the beginning I was talking about common sense and I expressed the hope that the ideology will not make decisions anymore about things which are very important for us. There is one unfortunate document on the table called repower EU. I don’t need to hide madame director general because you all know my opinion when it comes to repower. It’s a complete nonsense. When it comes to gas and when it comes to oil, we’re just shooting into our own knee. And I am prepared to quarrel with the European Commission on a at a 24-hour basis to constructively I will try to convince them that this is a nonsensical ideological step. Please do not look with the pro-Russian glasses at the reality. If you put away these glasses, you can take more rational decisions. The biggest danger, madame director general, is when this when nuclear fuel will be included into the document. And what would happen if someone says that we cannot take nuclear fuel from Russian Federation anymore? What would happen? Well, I I believe we all agree that you cannot put anything stick anything into the reactor, you know, any stick. So it requires I’m not an expert but I know at least that you cannot put into Mercedes you cannot put an engine for from Skoda you know it doesn’t work like this if this happens you will threaten energy security energy safety of the EU on the other side United States of America don’t they take a lot of enriched uranium from Russian Federation well there is no ideology there and it doesn’t work but Here we’re putting ideology into our decisions which endanger us and therefore as madame director general I’m openly saying that we will never agree with repowering when it comes to 1st of January 2028. What I mean is gas mainly and we will never agree with the fact that we adopt decisions which will damage energy security. And today we we produce in Slovakia more than 60% electricity from nuclear energy and we’re a country which is important from this point of view not only for for Slovak territory it’s also important in terms of stability of this whole region as I said it’s not just the question of environment prices it’s all it also concerns accessibility and stability of energy supplies madame director general I use your presence here and I’d like to ask you. Let’s work on energy prices together, please. Because in Europe, we can do what we need for ourselves. How should we compete? What should we tell our manufacturers, companies in Slovakia? Why our electricity price is higher compared to the United States? Well, let’s not compare ourselves with China. Someone may say that Chinese standards in terms of environment are not as they are in Europe. But how should we compete? Please, due to these ideological decisions, [Music] let’s not uh damage the European Union so that we do not prosper. And for this reason, the prices of energy, what are we going to do about automotive industry? What will be our attitude to repowering? What shall we do with the nuclear energy? These are important issues and not sanctions or whether we like something or don’t like something. Let’s just make order at home. Let’s be successful. Uh let’s make out of the EU the place where people have best lives. In 2010, Lisbon strategy was supposed to be performed. If I mistaken when it comes to the year, please correct me. But it was stated in Lisbon strategy then that in 2010 Europe the or European Union will be the best place in the world to live when it comes to quality of life and everything. In 2010 and I was already the prime minister and we found out that we were not the best place. Then we took the Lisbon strategy and we threw it away to the basket. Then there was a agenda 2020 I believe and the result was is the same. Now we’re build we are setting ourselves incredible energy objectives. I’m waiting for the decisions of the summit in J when it comes to the combustion engines and and the ban of combustion engines until 2035 and I just believe that European Union European Commission will do it differently than we’ve done it so far and we will not adopt goals which are not realistic and which harm us. Slovakia is and wants to be a stable member of the European Union. Slovakia wants to contribute to make sure the EU is a successful project. But Slovakia is not the country which will be silent in spite of the fact that some people might consider us to be small and weak. But once again, Slovakia is not a country which will be silent. We have our government concept of a sovereign Slovak foreign policy. And this concept allows us to openly to to name things openly and clearly. And therefore, please if I said something in my speech which could be disturbing for someone. The only reason why I said it is that this is how I approach all topics I’m I have to face. And to be honest, in the past period, there are so many issues. Dear participants of the 18th European Nuclear Energy Forum, please use the opportunities that this forum gives you. Use it to the maximum extent. As I said at the beginning, I’ll be happy if uh at least one sentence will be spread, one message will be spread. Without nuclear energy, it won’t be possible. Thank you very equipment. Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, before I will tell you a few ideas on behalf of the Slovak government, allow me to make a short reminder or I’d like to say that yesterday in Czech Republic a very important expert in this area died in Czech Republic. We will mention her name. She dedicated her professional work in the field of nuclear safety and for that reason I believe that this is an appropriate forum that Mrs. Draova the chairman the of the nuclear safety authority in Czech Republic that we remember her and I believe it will be symbolic if uh I ask you for a minute of silence to honor Mrs. Draova. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. [Music] [Music] Mr. Ambassador, please give our condolences to the family and relatives of Madame Chairman. Now allow me to delve into the topic of the 18th energy nuclear forum. I was actually at the beginnings 18 years ago. Maybe some people are unhappy that I’m still here, but I’m very pleased that I’m now in a very different atmosphere compared to the situation 18 years ago. I take the enthusiasm which madame moderator expressed at the beginning in relationship with the nuclear energy. But this was not the case before and you know this very well. We remember decisions where common sense was lacking. And I have to mention a decision when conditions were negotiated about the accession of Slovakia to the EU. And these conditions included the obligation to close two nuclear units in Yaslosk. They had to be decommissioned. It was in June 20, 2004 and I was scratching my head and asking myself what are we going to do and for this reason to have some documents on the table means to foresee to predict and to make decisions for many years ahead. And we decided during our first mandate in the years 2006 until 2010 that the Italian company NL which was the majority shareholder of Slovak electricity works that we will find supporters to complete third and fourth unit of the nuclear power plant in Moza. To be honest, I have to admit if two units were not decommissioned, we would not have the courage and rational reasons to continue the construction in Motza. [Music] Madame moderator, they were looking at me as if I was crazy in 2008 when we announced that we would complete Moz nuclear nuclear power plant. But we knew very well that nuclear energy plays an extremely important role in terms of uh energy safety. Therefore, I am delighted that today we are celebrating the 18th year of this excellent international event and we are meeting in the atmosphere when we are talking about nuclear energy with enthusiasm which is good. When we should talk about energy today, we should not just say whether they are environmentally in an friendly produced or if they are accessible in terms of price. Even though these two factors are important and I will mention them in my speech but we also need to talk about sufficient amount of energy. We talk need to talk about accessibility and stability and this cannot be achieved without nuclear energy. Let’s keep this in mind and I welcome very much madame director general at this event and I also want to thank the European Commission for changing its attitude to nuclear energy. We have two important programs the nuclear program from the European Commission from the summer and we have state aid framework for net for clean industry. These two documents are very important and we need them in this period and they set the stage to make sure that the nuclear alliance which we have here that it is viable and that it is guaranteed also in the basic documents of the European Commission and European Union. This is an organization which we all support and which is struggling with so many issues at the moment. It will be very important that you send from here a very clear message to the world. It will not be possible without nuclear energy with all the risks which are related but it won’t be possible to do it without nuclear energy. Ladies and gentlemen, [Music] some time ago we had a joint meeting of the government with representatives of automotive industry. There’s a huge pressure on electric on the manufacturing of electric vehicles which will create pressure on production of electricity in Slovakia. Today we have five car manufacturers and we manufacture more than 1 million cars per year and there is so much pressure on electroomobility. So it is our estimate that our consumption may increase until 2040 by 40 to 60%. And we’ll need new sources for this. Moreover, Slovakia as a country, we have to apply for data centers and data centers also require a huge amount of electricity. We will also apply for battery stoages and battery storage also requires a lot of electricity and for this reason I welcome very much that the third unit has started. The fourth unit I expect should be commissioned at the beginning of next year. I thank everybody. This was not an easy task. Mr. Director General, you know how delighted I am when flying above Moz in the helicopter seeing the steam from these chimneys. That was the reason why it was built and we know how important this is for energy security of Slovakia. Let’s move on. Ladies and gentlemen, I’d like to announce you that on the 10th of September this year, the government signed and approved an interstate agreement between Slovaka government and the US government because we want to use the infrastructure of the nuclear power plant in Yaslo Bahunit and we want to build into for an state into state ownership. We want to build another nuclear unit. its output will be higher than 440 which we have. It should be a unit with the output more than 1,000 megawatt. I believe that this is a step which will be important not just for Slovakia but it will be important for the whole Europe especially for central Europe. And if everybody says that one day it will cost a lot of effort after the war when the relationships will be defined in a new way. This decision will play an important role in this region. Someone may ask a question why are we going in a way of diversification? Why are we looking for cooperation in other markets? We started we tried to cooperate with South Korea but there were some issues but it’s a matter of fact that the most probable scenario the most probable scenario is that on the basis of an agreement which we would like to sign with the US government even though it it it has been already agreed on the US side will be a cooperation with an American contractor but we’ll welcome if the US contractor will create a consortium with other entities. I understand that France would like to participate and there are other manufacturers who who could participate in this huge multi-billion project. Slovakia is a country which is able not just to build nuclear power plants. Madame director general saw yesterday in Motz how units three and four are being completed. The third was completed. Now we’re talking about the fourth unit and nobody can question the fact that we have people who are capable of building nuclear power plants which is a fantastic thing. But that’s not all. We are a country which is also interesting because we are able to decommission nuclear power plants. We can even remove the consequences of nuclear stories from 1970s. I don’t want to talk about nuclear accidents but let’s say the sto the story as we talk about hard stories let’s talk about nuclear stories I need to praise myself a bit distinguished ladies and gentlemen when it comes to de decommissioning of yaslo bahunit what we achieved there in the summer for instance there was a deasssembly of the biggest parts of the primary cycle it’s very important that contaminated concrete was removed from those pools where burnt fuel was stored. There were some other parts which had to be cleaned and then we started to deasssemble all these huge facilities and cleaning. There were 4,300 tons of contaminated material with 98% efficiency which is a huge success. I believe that the decommissioning program in the asloke bonita is a program for the whole world and we need to use it to maximum amount. We need to train as many people as possible because also in this cycle in this part of nuclear cycle we need to be successful for this reason. Thank you very much. Thank you to the commission for the cooperation at this demanding project. And I’d like to call upon all interested parties or all entities who are responsible for decommissioning in Los Bun to use this project to improve the good reputation of Slovakia and especially to show that we are an advanced country and we are actually one of the leaders I could say one of the world leaders in the field of nuclear energy even though we’re a small country which only has 5.5 million inhabitants. And that’s not all. We are a country which is interested in being an innovative country. I welcome the agreement which was signed by Yavis company which is the nuclear and decommissioning company with nuclear company in Italy. I was present at the signing of respective agreements and it’s not just the fact that we are interested in creating this small module reactors or doing some innovative events. For me the most interesting project of this collaboration is to create a center a center to process burned fuel and to prepare it for reuse. If we manage to do this, I can say again that we’ll be a leader in innovations and I’m looking forward to the cooperation. Thank you very much for coming to this event and thank you for supporting it in your with your presence. Ladies and gentlemen, at the beginning I was talking about common sense and I expressed the hope that the ideology will not make decisions anymore about things which are very important for us. There’s one unfortunate document on the table called repower EU. I don’t need to hide madame director general because you all know my opinion when it comes to repower. It’s a complete nonsense. When it comes to gas and when it comes to oil, we’re just shooting into our own knee. And I am prepared to quarrel with the European Commission on a at a 24-hour basis to constructively I will try to convince them that this is a nonsensical ideological step. Please do not look with the pro-Russian glasses at the reality. If you put away these glasses, you can take more rational decisions. The biggest danger, madame director general, is when this when nuclear fuel will be included into the document. And what would happen if someone says that we cannot take nuclear fuel from Russian Federation anymore? What would happen? Well, I I believe we all agree that you cannot put anything stick anything into the reactor, you know, any stick. So it requires I’m not an expert but I know at least that you cannot put into Mercedes you cannot put an engine for from Skoda you know it doesn’t work like this if this happens you will threaten energy security energy safety of the EU on the other side United States of America don’t they take a lot of enriched uranium from Russian Federation well there is no ideology there and it doesn’t work but here we’re putting ideology into our decisions which endanger us and therefore as madame director general I’m openly saying that we will never agree with repowering when it comes to 1st of January 2028 what I mean is gas mainly and we will never agree with the fact that we adopt decisions which would damage energy security and today we we produce in Slovakia more than 60% electricity from nuclear energy and we’re a country which is important from this point of view not only for for Slovak territory it’s also important in terms of stability of this whole region as I said it’s not just the question of environment prices it’s al it also concerns accessibility and stability of energy supplies madame director general I use your presence here and I’d like to ask you let’s work on energy prices together please because in Europe we can do what we need for ourselves. How should we compete? What should we tell our manufacturers, companies in Slovakia? Why our electricity price is higher compared to the United States? Well, let’s not compare ourselves with China. Someone may say that Chinese standards in terms of environment are not as they are in Europe. But how should we compete? Please, due to these ideological decisions, [Music] Let’s not uh damage the European Union so that we do not prosper and for this reason the prices of energy what are we going to do about automotive industry what will be our attitude to repowering what shall we do with the nuclear energy these are important issues and not sanctions or whether we like something or don’t like something let’s just make order at home let’s be successful Let’s make out of the EU the place where people have best lives. In 2010, Lisbon strategy was supposed to be performed if I mistaken when it comes to the year. Please correct me, but it was stated in Lisbon strategy then that in 2010 Europe or European Union will be the best place in the world to live when it comes to quality of life and everything. in 2010 and I was already the prime minister and we found out that we were not the best place. Then we took the Lisbon strategy and we threw it away to the basket. Then there was a agenda 2020 I believe and the result was is the same. Now we’re build we are setting ourselves incredible energy objectives. I’m waiting for the decisions of the summit in J when it comes to the combustion engines and and the ban of combustion engines until 2035 and I just believe that European Union European Commission will do it differently than we’ve done it so far and we will not adopt goals which are not realistic and which harm us. Slovakia is and wants to be a stable member of the European Union. Slovakia wants to contribute to make sure the EU is a successful project. But Slovakia is not the country which will be silent in spite of the fact that some people might consider us to be small and weak. But once again, Slovakia is not a country which will be silent. We have our government concept of a sovereign Slovak foreign policy. And this concept allows us to openly to to name things openly and clearly. And therefore, please if I said something in my speech which could be disturbing for someone. The only reason why I said it is that this is how I approach all topics I’m I have to face. And to be honest, in the past period, there are so many issues. Dear participants of the 18th European Nuclear Energy Forum, please use the opportunities that this forum gives you. Use it to the maximum extent. As I said at the beginning, I’ll be happy if uh at least one sentence will be spread, one message will be spread. Without nuclear energy, it won’t be possible. Thank you very equipment. Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, before I will tell you a few ideas on behalf of the Slovak government, allow me to make a short reminder or I’d like to say that yesterday in Czech Republic a very important expert in this area died in Czech Republic. We will mention her name. She dedicated her professional work in the field of nuclear safety and for that reason I believe that this is an appropriate forum that Mrs. Draova the chairman the of the nuclear safety authority in Czech Republic that we remember her and I believe it will be symbolic if uh I ask you for a minute of silence to honor Mrs. Draova. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. [Music] [Music] Mr. Ambassador, please give our condolences to the family and relatives of Madame Chairman. Now allow me to delve into the topic of the 18th energy nuclear forum. I was actually at the beginnings 18 years ago. Maybe some people are unhappy that I’m still here, but I’m very pleased that I’m now in a very different atmosphere compared to the situation 18 years ago. I take the enthusiasm which madame moderator expressed at the beginning in relationship with the nuclear energy. But this was not the case before and you know this very well. We remember decisions where common sense was lacking. And I have to mention a decision when conditions were negotiated about the accession of Slovakia to the EU. And these conditions included the obligation to close two nuclear units in a Yaslosk Bun. They had to be decommissioned. It was in June 20, 2004. And I was scratching my head and asking myself what are we going to do? And for this reason to have some documents on the table means to foresee to predict and to make decisions for many years ahead. And we decided during our first mandate in the years 2006 until 2010 that the Italian company NL which was the majority shareholder of Slovak electricity worked that we will find supporters to complete third and fourth unit of the nuclear power plant in Modula. To be honest, I have to admit if two units were not decommissioned, we would not have the courage and rational reasons to continue the construction in Moz. [Music] Madame moderator, they were looking at me as if I was crazy in 2008 when we announced that we would complete Moz nuclear nuclear power plant. But we knew very well that nuclear energy plays an extremely important role in terms of uh energy safety. Therefore, I am delighted that today we are celebrating the 18th year of this excellent international event and we are meeting in the atmosphere when we are talking about nuclear energy with enthusiasm which is good. When we should talk about energy today, we should not just say whether they are environmentally in an friendly produced or if they are accessible in terms of price. Even though these two factors are important and I will mention them in my speech but we also need to talk about sufficient amount of energy. We talk need to talk about accessibility and stability and this cannot be achieved without nuclear energy. Let’s keep this in mind and I welcome very much madame director general at this event and I also want to thank the European Commission for changing its attitude to nuclear energy. We have two important programs the nuclear program from the European Commission from the summer and we have state aid framework for net for clean industry. These two documents are very important and we need them in this period and they set the stage to make sure that the nuclear alliance which we have here that it is viable and that it is guaranteed also in the basic documents of the European Commission and the European Union. This is an organization which we all support and which is struggling with so many issues at the moment. It will be very important that you send from here a very clear message to the world. It will not be possible without nuclear energy with all the risks which are related but it won’t be possible to do it without nuclear energy. Ladies and gentlemen, [Music] some time ago we had a joint meeting of the government with representatives of automotive industry. There’s a huge pressure on electric on the manufacturing of electric vehicles which will create pressure on production of electricity in Slovakia. Today we have five car manufacturers and we manufacture more than 1 million cars per year and there is so much pressure on electroomobility. So it is our estimate that our consumption may increase until 2040 by 40 to 60%. And we’ll need new sources for this. Moreover, Slovakia as a country, we have to apply for data centers and data centers also require a huge amount of electricity. We will also apply for battery storageages and battery storage also requires a lot of electricity and for this reason I welcome very much that the third unit has started. The fourth unit I expect should be commissioned at the beginning of next year. I thank everybody. This was not an easy task. Mr. Director General, you know how delighted I am when flying above Moz in the helicopter seeing the steam from these chimneys. That was the reason why it was built and we know how important this is for energy security of Slovakia. Let’s move on. Ladies and gentlemen, I’d like to announce you that on the 10th of September this year, the government signed and approved an interstate agreement between Slovaka government and the US government because we want to use the infrastructure of the nuclear power plant in the Yaslos Bahunit. And we want to build into for an state into state ownership. We want to build another nuclear unit. its output will be higher than 440 which we have. It should be a unit with the output more than 1,000 megawatt. I believe that this is a step which will be important not just for Slovakia but it will be important for the whole Europe especially for central Europe. And if everybody says that one day it will cost a lot of effort after the war when the relationships will be defined in a new way. This decision will play an important role in this region. Someone may ask a question why are we going in a way of diversification and why are we looking for cooperation in other markets? We started we tried to cooperate with South Korea but there were some issues but it’s a matter of fact that the most probable scenario the most probable scenario is that on the basis of an agreement which we would like to sign with the US government even though it it it has been already agreed on the US side will be a cooperation with an American contractor but we’ll welcome if the US contractor will create a consortium with other entities. I understand that France would like to participate and there are other manufacturers who who could participate in this huge multi-billion project. Slovakia is a country which is able not just to build nuclear power plants. Madame director general saw yesterday in Mot how units three and four are being completed. The third was completed. Now we’re talking about the fourth unit and nobody can question the fact that we have people who are capable of building nuclear power plants which is a fantastic thing. But that’s not all. We are a country which is also interesting because we are able to decommission nuclear power plants. We can even remove the consequences of nuclear stories from 1970s. I don’t want to talk about nuclear accidents but let’s say the sto the story as we talk about hard stories let’s talk about nuclear stories I need to praise myself a bit distinguished ladies and gentlemen when it comes to de decommissioning of yaslok bahunit what we achieved there in the summer for instance there was a deasssembly of the biggest parts of the primary cycle it’s very important that contaminated concrete was removed from those pools where burnt fuel was stored. There were some other parts which had to be cleaned and then we started to deassemble all these huge facilities and cleaning. There were 4,300 tons of contaminated material with 98% efficiency which is a huge success. I believe that the decommissioning program in the Aslok Bhunit is a program for the whole world and we need to use it to maximum amount. We need to train as many people as possible because also in this cycle in this part of nuclear cycle we need to be successful for this reason. Thank you very much. Thank you to the commission for the cooperation at this demanding project. And I’d like to call upon all interested parties or all entities who are responsible for decommissioning in Yasloske Bins to use this project to improve the good reputation of Slovakia and especially to show that we are an advanced country and we are actually one of the leaders I could say one of the world leaders in the field of nuclear energy even though we’re a small country which only has 5.5 million inhabitants. And that’s not all. We are a country which is interested in being an innovative country. I welcome the agreement which was signed by Yavis company which is the nuclear and decommissioning company with nuclear company in Italy. I was present at the signing of respective agreements and it’s not just the fact that we are interested in creating this small mod module reactors or doing some innovative events. For me the most interesting project of this collaboration is to create a center a center to process burned fuel and to prepare it for reuse. If we manage to do this, I can say again that we’ll be a leader in innovations and I’m looking forward to the cooperation. Thank you very much for coming to this event and thank you for supporting it in your with your presence. Ladies and gentlemen, at the beginning I was talking about common sense and I expressed the hope that the ideology will not make decisions anymore about things which are very important for us. There’s one unfortunate document on the table called repower EU. I don’t need to hide madame director general because you all know my opinion when it comes to rep power. It’s a complete nonsense when it comes to gas and when it comes to oil. We’re just shooting into our own knee. And I am prepared to quarrel with the European Commission on a at a 24-hour basis to constructively I will try to convince them that this is a nonsensical ideological step. Please do not look with the pro-Russian glasses at the reality. If you put away these glasses, you can take more rational decisions. The biggest danger, madame director general, is when this when nuclear fuel will be included into the document. And what would happen if someone says that we cannot take nuclear fuel from Russian Federation anymore? What would happen? Well, I I believe we all agree that you cannot put anything stick anything into the reactor, you know, any stick. So it requires I’m not an expert but I know at least that you cannot put into Mercedes you cannot put an engine for from Shkoda you know it doesn’t work like this if this happens you will threaten energy security energy safety of the EU on the other side United States of America don’t they take a lot of enriched uranium from Russian Federation well there is no ideology there and it doesn’t work but here we’re putting ideology into our decisions which endanger us and therefore as madame director general I’m openly saying that we will never agree with repowering when it comes to 1st of January 2028 what I mean is gas mainly and we will never agree with the fact that we adopt decisions which would damage energy security and today we we produce in Slovakia more than 60% electricity from nuclear energy and we’re a country which is important from this point of view not only for for Slovak territory it’s also important in terms of stability of this whole region as I said it’s not just the question of environment prices it’s al it also concerns accessibility and stability of energy supplies madame director general I use your presence here and I’d like to ask you let’s work on energy prices together please because in Europe we can do what we need for ourselves. How should we compete? What should we tell our manufacturers, companies in Slovakia? Why our electricity price is higher compared to the United States? Well, let’s not compare ourselves with China. Someone may say that Chinese standards in terms of environment are not as they are in Europe. But how should we compete? Please, due to these ideological decisions, [Music] Let’s not uh damage the European Union so that we do not prosper and for this reason the prices of energy. What are we going to do about automotive industry? What will be our attitude to repowering? What shall we do with the nuclear energy? These are important issues and not sanctions or whether we like something or don’t like something. Let’s just make order at home. Let’s be successful. Let’s make out of the EU the place where people have best lives. In 2010, Lisbon strategy was supposed to be performed. If I mistaken when it comes to the year, please correct me, but it was stated in Lisbon strategy then that in 2010 Europe or European Union will be the best place in the world to live when it comes to quality of life and everything. in 2010 and I was already the prime minister and we found out that we were not the best place. Then we took the Lisbon strategy and we threw it away to the basket. Then there was a agenda 2020 I believe and the result was is the same. Now we’re build we are setting ourselves incredible energy objectives. I’m waiting for the decisions of the summit in Jan when it comes to the combustion engines and and the ban of combustion engines until 2035 and I just believe that European Union European Commission will do it differently than we’ve done it so far and we will not adopt goals which are not realistic and which harm us. Slovakia is and wants to be a stable member of the European Union. Slovakia wants to contribute to make sure the EU is a successful project. But Slovakia is not the country which will be silent in spite of the fact that some people might consider us to be small and weak. But once again, Slovakia is not a country which will be silent. We have our government concept of a sovereign Slovak foreign policy. And this concept allows us to openly to to name things openly and clearly. And therefore, please if I said something in my speech which could be disturbing for someone. The only reason why I said it is that this is how I approach all topics I’m I have to face. And to be honest, in the past period, there are so many issues. Dear participants of the 18th European Nuclear Energy Forum, please use the opportunities that this forum gives you. Use it to the maximum extent. As I said at the beginning, I’ll be happy if uh at least one sentence will be spread, one message will be spread. Without nuclear energy, it won’t be possible. Thank you very equipment. Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, before I will tell you a few ideas on behalf of the Slovak government, allow me to make a short reminder or I’d like to say that yesterday in Czech Republic a very important expert in this area died in Czech Republic. We will mention her name. She dedicated her professional work in the field of nuclear safety and for that reason I believe that this is an appropriate forum that Mrs. Draova the chairman the of the nuclear safety authority in Czech Republic that we remember her and I believe it will be symbolic if uh I ask you for a minute of silence to honor Mrs. Draova. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. [Music] [Music] Mr. Ambassador, please give our condolences to the family and relatives of Madame Chairman. Now allow me to delve into the topic of the 18th energy nuclear forum. I was actually at the beginnings 18 years ago. Maybe some people are unhappy that I’m still here, but I’m very pleased that I’m now in a very different atmosphere compared to the situation 18 years ago. I take the enthusiasm which madame moderator expressed at the beginning in relationship with the nuclear energy. But this was not the case before and you know this very well. We remember decisions where common sense was lacking. And I have to mention a decision when conditions were negotiated about the accession of Slovakia to the EU. And these conditions included the obligation to close two nuclear units in Yaslo Bhunit. They had to be decommissioned. It was in June 20, 2004 and I was scratching my head and asking myself what are we going to do and for this reason to have some documents on the table means to foresee to predict and to make decisions for many years ahead. And we decided during our first mandate in the years 2006 until 2010 that the Italian company NL which was the majority shareholder of Slovak electricity works that we will find supporters to complete third and fourth unit of the nuclear power plant in Modza. To be honest, I have to admit if two units were not decommissioned, we would not have the courage and rational reasons to continue the construction in Moz. [Music] Madame moderator, they were looking at me as if I was crazy in 2008 when we announced that we would complete Moz nuclear nuclear power plant. But we knew very well that nuclear energy plays an extremely important role in terms of uh energy safety. Therefore, I am delighted that today we are celebrating the 18th year of this excellent international event and we are meeting in the atmosphere when we are talking about nuclear energy with enthusiasm which is good. When we should talk about energy today, we should not just say whether they are environmentally in an friendly produced or if they are accessible in terms of price. Even though these two factors are important and I will mention them in my speech but we also need to talk about sufficient amount of energy. We talk need to talk about accessibility and stability and this cannot be achieved without nuclear energy. Let’s keep this in mind and I welcome very much madame director general at this event and I also want to thank the European Commission for changing its attitude to nuclear energy. We have two important programs the nuclear program from the European Commission from the summer and we have state aid framework for net for clean industry. These two documents are very important and we need them in this period and they set the stage to make sure that the nuclear alliance which we have here that it is viable and that it is guaranteed also in the basic documents of the European Commission and the European Union. This is an organization which we all support and which is struggling with so many issues at the moment. It will be very important that you send from here a very clear message to the world. It will not be possible without nuclear energy with all the risks which are related but it won’t be possible to do it without nuclear energy. Ladies and gentlemen, [Music] some time ago we had a joint meeting of the government with representatives of automotive industry. There’s a huge pressure on electric on manufacturing of electric vehicles which will create pressure on production of electricity in Slovakia. Today we have five car manufacturers and we manufacture more than 1 million cars per year and there is so much pressure on electroomobility. So it is our estimate that our consumption may increase until 2040 by 40 to 60%. And we’ll need new sources for this. Moreover, Slovakia as a country, we have to apply for data centers and data centers also require a huge amount of electricity. We will also apply for battery storageages and battery storage also requires a lot of electricity and for this reason I welcome very much that the third unit has started. The fourth unit I expect should be commissioned at the beginning of next year. I thank everybody. This was not an easy task. Mr. Director General, you know how delighted I am when flying above Maltz in the helicopter seeing the steam from these chimneys. That was the reason why it was built and we know how important this is for energy security of Slovakia. Let’s move on. Ladies and gentlemen, I’d like to announce you that on the 10th of September this year, the government signed and approved an interstate agreement between Slovaka government and the US government because we want to use the infrastructure of the nuclear power plant in Yaslosk Bonita. And we want to build into for an state into state ownership. We want to build another nuclear unit. its output will be higher than 440 which we have. It should be a unit with the output more than 1,000 megawatt. I believe that this is a step which will be important not just for Slovakia but it will be important for the whole Europe especially for central Europe. And if everybody says that one day it will cost a lot of effort after the war when the relationships will be defined in a new way. This decision will play an important role in this region. Someone may ask a question why are we going in a way of diversification? Why are we looking for cooperation in other markets? We started we tried to cooperate with South Korea but there were some issues but it’s a matter of fact that the most probable scenario the most probable scenario is that on the basis of an agreement which we would like to sign with the US government even though it it it has been already agreed on the US side will be a cooperation with an American contractor but we’ll welcome if the US contractor will create a consortium with other entities. I understand that France would like to participate and there are other manufacturers who who could participate in this huge multi-billion project. Slovakia is a country which is able not just to build nuclear power plants. Madame director general saw yesterday in Motz how units three and four are being completed. The third was completed. Now we’re talking about the fourth unit and nobody can question the fact that we have people who are capable of building nuclear power plants which is a fantastic thing. But that’s not all. We are a country which is also interesting because we are able to decommission nuclear power plants. We can even remove the consequences of nuclear stories from 1970s. I don’t want to talk about nuclear accidents but let’s say the sto the story as we talk about hard stories let’s talk about nuclear stories I need to praise myself a bit distinguished ladies and gentlemen when it comes to de decommissioning of yaske what we achieved there in the summer for instance there was a deasssembly of the biggest parts of the primary cycle it’s very important that contaminated concrete was removed from those pools where burnt fuel was stored. There were some other parts which had to be cleaned and then we started to deasssemble all these huge facilities and cleaning. There were 4,300 tons of contaminated material with 98% efficiency which is a huge success. I believe that the decommissioning program in the asloke bun is a program for the whole world and we need to use it to maximum amount. We need to train as many people as possible because also in this cycle in this part of nuclear cycle we need to be successful for this reason. Thank you very much. Thank you to the commission for the cooperation at this demanding project. And I’d like to call upon all interested parties or all entities who are responsible for decommissioning in Los Bun to use this project to improve the good reputation of Slovakia and especially to show that we are an advanced country and we are actually one of the leaders I could say one of the world leaders in the field of nuclear energy even though we’re a small country which only has 5.5 million inhabitants. And that’s not all. We are a country which is interested in being an innovative country. I welcome the agreement which was signed by Yavis company which is the nuclear and decommissioning company with nuclear company in Italy. I was present at the signing of respective agreements and it’s not just the fact that we are interested in creating this small mod module reactors or doing some innovative events. For me the most interesting project of this collaboration is to create a center a center to process burned fuel and to prepare it for reuse. If we manage to do this, I can say again that we’ll be a leader in innovations and I’m looking forward to the cooperation. Thank you very much for coming to this event and thank you for supporting it in your with your presence. Ladies and gentlemen, at the beginning I was talking about common sense and I expressed the hope that the ideology will not make decisions anymore about things which are very important for us. There is one unfortunate document on the table called repower EU. I don’t need to hide madame director general because you all know my opinion when it comes to repower. It’s a complete nonsense. When it comes to gas and when it comes to oil, we’re just shooting into our own knee. And I am prepared to quarrel with the European Commission on a at a 24-hour basis to constructively I will try to convince them that this is a nonsensical ideological step. Please do not look with the pro-Russian glasses at the reality. If you put away these glasses, you can take more rational decisions. The biggest danger, madame director general, is when this when nuclear fuel will be included into the document. And what would happen if someone says that we cannot take nuclear fuel from Russian Federation anymore? What would happen? Well, I I believe we all agree that you cannot put anything stick anything into the reactor, you know, any stick. So it requires I’m not an expert but I know at least that you cannot put into Mercedes you cannot put an engine for from Skoda you know it doesn’t work like this if this happens you will threaten energy security energy safety of the EU on the other side United States of America don’t they take a lot of enriched uranium from Russian Federation well there is no ideology there and it doesn’t work but Here we’re putting ideology into our decisions which endanger us and therefore as madame director general I’m openly saying that we will never agree with repowering when it comes to 1st of January 2028. What I mean is gas mainly and we will never agree with the fact that we adopt decisions which would damage energy security. And today we we produce in Slovakia more than 60% electricity from nuclear energy and we’re a country which is important from this point of view not only for for Slovak territory it’s also important in terms of stability of this whole region as I said it’s not just the question of environment prices it’s all it also concerns accessibility and stability of energy supplies madame director general I use your presence here and I’d like to ask you. Let’s work on energy prices together, please. Because in Europe, we can do what we need for ourselves. How should we compete? What should we tell our manufacturers, companies in Slovakia? Why our electricity price is higher compared to the United States? Well, let’s not compare ourselves with China. Someone may say that Chinese standards in terms of environment are not as they are in Europe. But how should we compete? Please, due to these ideological decisions, [Music] let’s not uh damage the European Union so that we do not prosper. And for this reason, the prices of energy, what are we going to do about automotive industry? What will be our attitude to repowering? What shall we do with the nuclear energy? These are important issues and not sanctions or whether we like something or don’t like something. Let’s just make order at home. Let’s be successful. Uh let’s make out of the EU the place where people have best lives. In 2010, Lisbon strategy was supposed to be performed. If I mistaken when it comes to the year, please correct me. But it was stated in Lisbon strategy then that in 2010 Europe or European Union will be the best place in the world to live when it comes to quality of life and everything. In 2010 and I was already the prime minister and we found out that we were not the best place. Then we took the Lisbon strategy and we threw it away to the basket. Then there was a agenda 2020 I I believe and the result was is the same. Now we’re build we are setting ourselves incredible energy objectives. I’m waiting for the decisions of the summit in J when it comes to the combustion engines and and the ban of combustion engines until 2035 and I just believe that European Union European Commission will do it differently than we’ve done it so far and we will not adopt goals which are not realistic and which harm us. Slovakia is and wants to be a stable member of the European Union. Slovakia wants to contribute to make sure the EU is a successful project. But Slovakia is not the country which will be silent in spite of the fact that some people might consider us to be small and weak. But once again, Slovakia is not a country which will be silent. We have our government concept of a sovereign Slovak foreign policy. And this concept allows us to openly to to name things openly and clearly. And therefore, please if I said something in my speech which could be disturbing for someone. The only reason why I said it is that this is how I approach all topics I’m I have to face. And to be honest, in the past period, there are so many issues. Dear participants of the 18th European Nuclear Energy Forum, please use the opportunities that this forum gives you. Use it to the maximum extent. As I said at the beginning, I’ll be happy if uh at least one sentence will be spread, one message will be spread. Without nuclear energy, it won’t be possible. Thank you very equipment. Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, before I will tell you a few ideas on behalf of the Slovak government, allow me to make a short reminder or I’d like to say that yesterday in Czech Republic a very important expert in this area died in Czech Republic. We will mention her name. She dedicated her professional work in the field of nuclear safety and for that reason I believe that this is an appropriate forum that Mrs. Draova the chairman the of the nuclear safety authority in Czech Republic that we remember her and I believe it will be symbolic if uh I ask you for a minute of silence to honor Mrs. Draova. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. [Music] [Music] Mr. Ambassador, please give our condolences to the family and relatives of Madame Chairman. Now allow me to delve into the topic of the 18th energy nuclear forum. I was actually at the beginnings 18 years ago. Maybe some people are unhappy that I’m still here, but I’m very pleased that I’m now in a very different atmosphere compared to the situation 18 years ago. I take the enthusiasm which madame moderator expressed at the beginning in relationship with the nuclear energy. But this was not the case before and you know this very well. We remember decisions where common sense was lacking. And I have to mention a decision when conditions were negotiated about the accession of Slovakia to the EU. And these conditions included the obligation to close two nuclear units in Yaslo Bhunit. They had to be decommissioned. It was in June 20, 2004 and I was scratching my head and asking myself what are we going to do and for this reason to have some documents on the table means to foresee to predict and to make decisions for many years ahead. And we decided during our first mandate in the years 2006 until 2010 that the Italian company NL which was the majority shareholder of Slovak electricity worked that we will find supporters to complete third and fourth unit of the nuclear power plant in Modula. To be honest, I have to admit if two units were not decommissioned, we would not have the courage and rational reasons to continue the construction in Moz. [Music] Madame moderator, they were looking at me as if I was crazy in 2008 when we announced that we would complete Moz nuclear nuclear power plant. But we knew very well that nuclear energy plays an extremely important role in terms of uh energy safety. Therefore, I am delighted that today we are celebrating the 18th year of this excellent international event and we are meeting in the atmosphere when we are talking about nuclear energy with enthusiasm which is good. When we should talk about energy today, we should not just say whether they are environmentally in an friendly produced or if they are accessible in terms of price. Even though these two factors are important and I will mention them in my speech but we also need to talk about sufficient amount of energy. We talk need to talk about accessibility and stability and this cannot be achieved without nuclear energy. Let’s keep this in mind and I welcome very much madame director general at this event and I also want to thank the European Commission for changing its attitude to nuclear energy. We have two important programs the nuclear program from the European Commission from the summer and we have state aid framework for net for clean industry. These two documents are very important and we need them in this period and they set the stage to make sure that the nuclear alliance which we have here that it is viable and that it is guaranteed also in the basic documents of the European Commission and the European Union. This is an organization which we all support and which is struggling with so many issues at the moment. It will be very important that you send from here a very clear message to the world. It will not be possible without nuclear energy with all the risks which are related but it won’t be possible to do it without nuclear energy. Ladies and gentlemen, [Music] some time ago we had a joint meeting of the government with representatives of automotive industry. There’s a huge pressure on electric on manufacturing of electric vehicles which will create pressure on production of electricity in Slovakia. Today we have five car manufacturers and we manufacture more than 1 million cars per year and there is so much pressure on electroomobility. So it is our estimate that our consumption may increase until 2040 by 40 to 60%. And we’ll need new sources for this. Moreover, Slovakia as a country we have to apply for data centers and data centers also require a huge amount of electricity. We will also apply for battery storageages and battery storage also requires a lot of electricity and for this reason I welcome very much that the third unit has started. The fourth unit I expect should be commissioned at the beginning of next year. I thank everybody. This was not an easy task. Mr. Director General, you know how delighted I am when flying above Maltz in the helicopter seeing the steam from these chimneys. That was the reason why it was built and we know how important this is for energy security of Slovakia. Let’s move on. Ladies and gentlemen, I’d like to announce you that on the 10th of September this year, the government signed and approved an interstate agreement between Slovaka government and the US government because we want to use the infrastructure of the nuclear power plant in Yaslosk Bonita. And we want to build into for an state into state ownership. We want to build another nuclear unit. its output will be higher than 440 which we have. It should be a unit with the output more than 1,000 megawatt. I believe that this is a step which will be important not just for Slovakia but it will be important for the whole Europe especially for central Europe. And if everybody says that one day it will cost a lot of effort after the war when the relationships will be defined in a new way. This decision will play an important role in this region. Someone may ask a question why are we going in a way of diversification? Why are we looking for cooperation in other markets? We started we tried to cooperate with South Korea but there were some issues but it’s a matter of fact that the most probable scenario the most probable scenario is that on the basis of an agreement which we would like to sign with the US government even though it it it has been already agreed on the US side will be a cooperation with an American contractor but we’ll welcome if the US contractor will create a consortium with other entities. I understand that France would like to participate and there are other manufacturers who who could participate in this huge multi-billion project. Slovakia is a country which is able not just to build nuclear power plants. Madame director general saw yesterday in Motz how units three and four are being completed. The third was completed. Now we’re talking about the fourth unit and nobody can question the fact that we have people who are capable of building nuclear power plants which is a fantastic thing. But that’s not all. We are a country which is also interesting because we are able to decommission nuclear power plants. We can even remove the consequences of nuclear stories from 1970s. I don’t want to talk about nuclear accidents but let’s say the sto the story as we talk about hard stories let’s talk about nuclear stories I need to praise myself a bit distinguished ladies and gentlemen when it comes to de decommissioning of yaske what we achieved there in the summer for instance there was a deasssembly of the biggest parts of the primary cycle it’s very important that contaminated concrete was removed from those pools where burnt fuel was stored. There were some other parts which had to be cleaned and then we started to deasssemble all these huge facilities and cleaning. There were 4,300 tons of contaminated material with 98% efficiency which is a huge success. I believe that the decommissioning program in the Aslok Bonita is a program for the whole world and we need to use it to maximum amount. We need to train as many people as possible because also in this cycle in this part of nuclear cycle we need to be successful for this reason. Thank you very much. Thank you to the commission for the cooperation at this demanding project and I’d like to call upon all interested parties or all entities who are responsible for decommissioning in Los Bun to use this project to improve the good reputation of Slovakia and especially to show that we are an advanced country and we are actually one of the leaders I could say one of the world leaders in the field of nuclear energy even though we’re a small country which only has 5.5 million inhabitants And that’s not all. We are a country which is interested in being an innovative country. I welcome the agreement which was signed by Yavis company which is the nuclear and decommissioning company with nuclear company in Italy. I was present at the signing of respective agreements. And it’s not just the fact that we are interested in creating this small mod module reactors or doing some innovative events. For me, the most interesting project of this collaboration is to create a center, a center to process burned fuel and to prepare it for reuse. If we manage to do this, I can say again that we’ll be a leader in innovations and I’m looking forward to the cooperation. Thank you very much for coming to this event and thank you for supporting it in your with your presence. Ladies and gentlemen, at the beginning I was talking about common sense and I expressed the hope that the ideology will not make decisions anymore about things which are very important for us. There is one unfortunate document on the table called repower EU. I don’t need to hide madame director general because you all know my opinion when it comes to repower. It’s a complete nonsense. When it comes to gas and when it comes to oil, we’re just shooting into our own knee. And I am prepared to quarrel with the European Commission on a at a 24-hour basis to constructively I will try to convince them that this is a nonsensical ideological step. Please do not look with the pro-Russian glasses at the reality. If you put away these glasses, you can take more rational decisions. The biggest danger, madame director general, is when this when nuclear fuel will be included into the document. And what would happen if someone says that we cannot take nuclear fuel from Russian Federation anymore? What would happen? Well, I I believe we all agree that you cannot put anything stick anything into the reactor, you know, any stick. So it requires I’m not an expert but I know at least that you cannot put into Mercedes you cannot put an engine for from Skoda you know it doesn’t work like this if this happens you will threaten energy security energy safety of the EU on the other side United States of America don’t they take a lot of enriched uranium from Russian Federation well there is no ideology there and it doesn’t work but Here we’re putting ideology into our decisions which endanger us and therefore as madame director general I’m openly saying that we will never agree with repowering when it comes to 1st of January 2028. What I mean is gas mainly and we will never agree with the fact that we adopt decisions which would damage energy security. And today we we produce in Slovakia more than 60% electricity from nuclear energy and we’re a country which is important from this point of view not only for for Slovak territory it’s also important in terms of stability of this whole region as I said it’s not just the question of environment prices it’s all it also concerns accessibility and stability of energy supplies madame director general I use your presence here and I’d like to ask you. Let’s work on energy prices together, please. Because in Europe, we can do what we need for ourselves. How should we compete? What should we tell our manufacturers, companies in Slovakia? Why our electricity price is higher compared to the United States? Well, let’s not compare ourselves with China. Someone may say that Chinese standards in terms of environment are not as they are in Europe. But how should we compete? Please, due to these ideological decisions, [Music] let’s not uh damage the European Union so that we do not prosper. And for this reason, the prices of energy, what are we going to do about automotive industry? What will be our attitude to repowering? What shall we do with the nuclear energy? These are important issues and not sanctions or whether we like something or don’t like something. Let’s just make order at home. Let’s be successful. Let’s make out of the EU the place where people have best lives. In 2010, Lisbon strategy was supposed to be performed. If I mistaken when it comes to the year, please correct me. But it was stated in Lisbon strategy then that in 2010 Europe the or European Union will be the best place in the world to live when it comes to quality of life and everything. In 2010 and I was already the prime minister and we found out that we were not the best place. Then we took the Lisbon strategy and we threw it away to the basket. Then there was a agenda 2020 I believe and the result was is the same. Now we’re build we are setting ourselves incredible energy objectives. I’m waiting for the decisions of the summit in J when it comes to the combustion engines and and the ban of combustion engines until 2035 and I just believe that European Union European Commission will do it differently than we’ve done it so far and we will not adopt goals which are not realistic and which harm us. Slovakia is and wants to be a stable member of the European Union. Slovakia wants to contribute to make sure the EU is a successful project. But Slovakia is not the country which will be silent in spite of the fact that some people might consider us to be small and weak. But once again, Slovakia is not a country which will be silent. We have our government concept of a sovereign Slovak foreign policy. And this concept allows us to openly to to name things openly and clearly. And therefore, please if I said something in my speech which could be disturbing for someone. The only reason why I said it is that this is how I approach all topics I’m I have to face. And to be honest, in the past period, there are so many issues. Dear participants of the 18th European Nuclear Energy Forum, please use the opportunities that this forum gives you. Use it to the maximum extent. As I said at the beginning, I’ll be happy if uh at least one sentence will be spread, one message will be spread. Without nuclear energy, it won’t be possible. Thank you very equipment. Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, before I will tell you a few ideas on behalf of the Slovak government, allow me to make a short reminder or I’d like to say that yesterday in Czech Republic a very important expert in this area died in Czech Republic. We will mention her name. She dedicated her professional work in the field of nuclear safety and for that reason I believe that this is an appropriate forum that Mrs. Draova the chairman the of the nuclear safety authority in Czech Republic that we remember her and I believe it will be symbolic if uh I ask you for a minute of silence to honor Mrs. Draova. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. [Music] [Music] Mr. Ambassador, please give our condolences to the family and relatives of Madame Chairman. Now allow me to delve into the topic of the 18th energy nuclear forum. I was actually at the beginnings 18 years ago. Maybe some people are unhappy that I’m still here, but I’m very pleased that I’m now in a very different atmosphere compared to the situation 18 years ago. I take the enthusiasm which madame moderator expressed at the beginning in relationship with the nuclear energy. But this was not the case before and you know this very well. We remember decisions where common sense was lacking. And I have to mention a decision when conditions were negotiated about the accession of Slovakia to the EU. And these conditions included the obligation to close two nuclear units in Yaslo Bhunit. They had to be decommissioned. It was in June 20, 2004. And I was scratching my head and asking myself what are we going to do? And for this reason to have some documents on the table means to foresee, to predict and to make decisions for many years ahead. And we decided during our first mandate in the years 2006 until 2010 that the Italian company NL which was the majority shareholder of Slovak electricity works that we will find supporters to complete third and fourth unit of the nuclear power plant in Maltza. To be honest, I have to admit if two units were not decommissioned, we would not have the courage and rational reasons to continue the construction in Moz. [Music] Madame moderator, they were looking at me as if I was crazy in 2008 when we announced that we would complete Moz nuclear nuclear power plant. But we knew very well that nuclear energy plays an extremely important role in terms of uh energy safety. Therefore, I am delighted that today we are celebrating the 18th year of this excellent international event and we are meeting in the atmosphere when we are talking about nuclear energy with enthusiasm which is good. When we should talk about energy today, we should not just say whether they are environmentally in an friendly produced or if they are accessible in terms of price. Even though these two factors are important and I will mention them in my speech but we also need to talk about sufficient amount of energy. We talk need to talk about accessibility and stability and this cannot be achieved without nuclear energy. Let’s keep this in mind and I welcome very much madame director general at this event and I also want to thank the European Commission for changing its attitude to nuclear energy. We have two important programs the nuclear program from the European Commission from the summer and we have state aid framework for net for clean industry. These two documents are very important and we need them in this period and they set the stage to make sure that the nuclear alliance which we have here that it is viable and that it is guaranteed also in the basic documents of the European Commission and the European Union. This is an organization which we all support and which is struggling with so many issues at the moment. It will be very important that you send from here a very clear message to the world. It will not be possible without nuclear energy with all the risks which are related but it won’t be possible to do it without nuclear energy. Ladies and gentlemen, [Music] some time ago we had a joint meeting of the government with representatives of automotive industry. There’s a huge pressure on electric on manufacturing of electric vehicles which will create pressure on production of electricity in Slovakia. Today we have five car manufacturers and we manufacture more than 1 million cars per year and there is so much pressure on electroomobility. So it is our estimate that our consumption may increase until 2040 by 40 to 60%. And we’ll need new sources for this. Moreover, Slovakia as a country we have to apply for data centers and data centers also require a huge amount of electricity. We will also apply for battery storageages and battery storage also requires a lot of electricity and for this reason I welcome very much that the third unit has started. The fourth unit I expect should be commissioned at the beginning of next year. I thank everybody. This was not an easy task. Mr. Director General, you know how delighted I am when flying above Maltz in the helicopter seeing the steam from these chimneys. That was the reason why it was built and we know how important this is for energy security of Slovakia. Let’s move on. Ladies and gentlemen, I’d like to announce you that on the 10th of September this year, the government signed and approved an interstate agreement between Slovaka government and the US government because we want to use the infrastructure of the nuclear power plant in Yaslosk Bonita. And we want to build into for an state into state ownership. We want to build another nuclear unit. its output will be higher than 440 which we have. It should be a unit with the output more than 1,000 megawatt. I believe that this is a step which will be important not just for Slovakia but it will be important for the whole Europe especially for central Europe. And if everybody says that one day it will cost a lot of effort after the war when the relationships will be defined in a new way. This decision will play an important role in this region. Someone may ask a question why are we going in a way of diversification? Why are we looking for cooperation in other markets? We started we tried to cooperate with South Korea but there were some issues but it’s a matter of fact that the most probable scenario the most probable scenario is that on the basis of an agreement which we would like to sign with the US government even though it it it has been already agreed on the US side will be a cooperation with an American contractor but we’ll welcome if the US contractor will create a consortium with other entities. I understand that France would like to participate and there are other manufacturers who who could participate in this huge multi-billion project. Slovakia is a country which is able not just to build nuclear power plants. Madame director general saw yesterday in Motz how units three and four are being completed. The third was completed. Now we’re talking about the fourth unit and nobody can question the fact that we have people who are capable of building nuclear power plants which is a fantastic thing. But that’s not all. We are a country which is also interesting because we are able to decommission nuclear power plants. We can even remove the consequences of nuclear stories from 1970s. I don’t want to talk about nuclear accidents but let’s say the sto the story as we talk about hard stories let’s talk about nuclear stories I need to praise myself a bit distinguished ladies and gentlemen when it comes to de decommissioning of yaske what we achieved there in the summer for instance there was a deasssembly of the biggest parts of the primary cycle it’s very important that contaminated concrete was removed from those pools where burnt fuel was stored. There were some other parts which had to be cleaned and then we started to deasssemble all these huge facilities and cleaning. There were 4,300 tons of contaminated material with 98% efficiency which is a huge success. I believe that the decommissioning program in the Aslok Bonita say is a program for the whole world and we need to use it to maximum amount. We need to train as many people as possible because also in this cycle in this part of nuclear cycle we need to be successful for this reason. Thank you very much. Thank you to the commission for the cooperation at this demanding project and I’d like to call upon all interested parties or all entities who are responsible for decommissioning in Los Buna to use this project to improve the good reputation of Slovakia and especially to show that we are an advanced country and we are actually one of the leaders I could say one of the world leaders in the field of nuclear energy even though we’re a small country which only has 5.5 million inhabitants And that’s not all. We are a country which is interested in being an innovative country. I welcome the agreement which was signed by Yavis company which is the nuclear and decommissioning company with nuclear company in Italy. I was present at the signing of respective agreements. And it’s not just the fact that we are interested in creating this small mod module reactors or doing some innovative events. For me, the most interesting project of this collaboration is to create a center, a center to process burned fuel and to prepare it for reuse. If we manage to do this, I can say again that we’ll be a leader in innovations and I’m looking forward to the cooperation. Thank you very much for coming to this event and thank you for supporting it in your with your presence. Ladies and gentlemen, at the beginning I was talking about common sense and I expressed the hope that the ideology will not make decisions anymore about things which are very important for us. There is one unfortunate document on the table called repower EU. I don’t need to hide madame director general because you all know my opinion when it comes to repower. It’s a complete nonsense. When it comes to gas and when it comes to oil, we’re just shooting into our own knee. And I am prepared to quarrel with the European Commission on a at a 24-hour basis to constructively I will try to convince them that this is a nonsensical ideological step. Please do not look with the pro-Russian glasses at the reality. If you put away these glasses, you can take more rational decisions. The biggest danger, madame director general, is when this when nuclear fuel will be included into the document. And what would happen if someone says that we cannot take nuclear fuel from Russian Federation anymore? What would happen? Well, I I believe we all agree that you cannot put anything stick anything into the reactor, you know, any stick. So it requires I’m not an expert but I know at least that you cannot put into Mercedes you cannot put an engine for from Skoda you know it doesn’t work like this if this happens you will threaten energy security energy safety of the EU on the other side United States of America don’t they take a lot of enriched uranium from Russian Federation well there is no ideology there and it doesn’t work but Here we’re putting ideology into our decisions which endanger us and therefore as madame director general I’m openly saying that we will never agree with repowering when it comes to 1st of January 2028. What I mean is gas mainly and we will never agree with the fact that we adopt decisions which would damage energy security. And today we we produce in Slovakia more than 60% electricity from nuclear energy and we’re a country which is important from this point of view not only for for Slovak territory. It’s also important in terms of stability of this whole region. As I said it’s not just the question of environment prices. It’s all it also concerns accessibility and stability of energy supplies. Madame Director General, I use your presence here and I’d like to ask you, let’s work on energy prices together, please. Because in Europe, we can do what we need for ourselves. How should we compete? What should we tell our manufacturers, companies in Slovakia? Why our electricity price is higher compared to the United States? Well, let’s not compare ourselves with China. Someone may say that Chinese standards in terms of environment are not as they are in Europe. How should we compete please? Due to these ideological decisions let’s not uh damage the European Union so that we do not prosper and for this reason the prices of energy. What are we going to do about automotive industry? What will be our attitude to repowering? What shall we do with the nuclear energy? These are important issues and not sanctions or whether we like something or don’t like something. Let’s just make order at home. Let’s be successful. Uh let’s make out of the EU the place where people have best lives. In 2010, Lisbon strategy was supposed to be performed. If I mistaken when it comes to the year, please correct me. But it was stated in Lisbon strategy then that in 2010 Europe or European Union will be the best place in the world to live when it comes to quality of life and everything. In 2010 and I was already the prime minister and we found out that we were not the best place. Then we took the Lisbon strategy and we threw it away to the basket. Then there was a agenda 2020 I believe and the result was is the same. Now we’re build we are setting ourselves incredible energy objectives. I’m waiting for the decisions of the summit in J when it comes to the combustion engines and and the ban of combustion engines until 2035 and I just believe that European Union European Commission will do it differently than we’ve done it so far and we will not adopt goals which are not realistic and which harm us. Slovakia is and wants to be a stable member of the European Union. Slovakia wants to contribute to make sure the EU is a successful project. But Slovakia is not the country which will be silent in spite of the fact that some people might consider us to be small and weak. But once again, Slovakia is not a country which will be silent. We have our government concept of a sovereign Slovak foreign policy. And this concept allows us to openly to to name things openly and clearly. And therefore, please if I said something in my speech which could be disturbing for someone. The only reason why I said it is that this is how I approach all topics I’m I have to face. And to be honest, in the past period, there are so many issues. Dear participants of the 18th European Nuclear Energy Forum, please use the opportunities that this forum gives you. Use it to the maximum extent. As I said at the beginning, I’ll be happy if uh at least one sentence will be spread, one message will be spread. Without nuclear energy, it won’t be possible. Thank you very equipment. Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, before I will tell you a few ideas on behalf of the Slovak government, allow me to make a short reminder or I’d like to say that yesterday in Czech Republic a very important expert in this area died in Czech Republic. We will mention her name. She dedicated her professional work in the field of nuclear safety and for that reason I believe that this is an appropriate forum that Mrs. Draova the chairman the of the nuclear safety authority in Czech Republic that we remember her and I believe it will be symbolic if uh I ask you for a minute of silence to honor Mrs. Draova. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. [Music] [Music] Mr. Ambassador, please give our condolences to the family and relatives of Madame Chairman. Now, allow me to delve into the topic of the 18th Energy Nuclear Forum. I was actually at the beginnings 18 years ago. Maybe some people are unhappy that I’m still here, but I’m very pleased that I’m now in a very different atmosphere compared to the situation 18 years ago. I take the enthusiasm which madame moderator expressed at the beginning in relationship with the nuclear energy. But this was not the case before and you know this very well. We remember decisions where common sense was lacking. And I have to mention a decision when conditions were negotiated about the accession of Slovakia to the EU. And these conditions included the obligation to close two nuclear units in Yaslosk. They had to be decommissioned. It was in June 20, 2004 and I was scratching my head and asking myself what are we going to do and for this reason to have some documents on the table means to foresee to predict and to make decisions for many years ahead. And we decided during our first mandate in the years 2006 until 2010 that the Italian company NL which was the majority shareholder of Slovak electricity works that we will find supporters to complete third and fourth unit of the nuclear power plant in Moza. To be honest, I have to admit if two units were not decommissioned, we would not have the courage and rational reasons to continue the construction in Mot. [Music] Madame moderator, they were looking at me as if I was crazy in 2008 when we announced that we would complete Moz nuclear nuclear power plant. But we knew very well that nuclear energy plays an extremely important role in terms of uh energy safety. Therefore, I am delighted that today we are celebrating the 18th year of this excellent international event and we are meeting in the atmosphere when we are talking about nuclear energy with enthusiasm which is good. When we should talk about energy today, we should not just say whether they are environmentally in an friendly produced or if they are accessible in terms of price. Even though these two factors are important and I will mention them in my speech but we also need to talk about sufficient amount of energy. We talk need to talk about accessibility and stability and this cannot be achieved without nuclear energy. Let’s keep this in mind and I welcome very much madame director general at this event and I also want to thank the European Commission for changing its attitude to nuclear energy. We have two important programs the nuclear program from the European Commission from the summer and we have state aid framework for net for clean industry. These two documents are very important and we need them in this period and they set the stage to make sure that the nuclear alliance which we have here that it is viable and that it is guaranteed also in the basic documents of the European Commission and European Union. This is an organization which we all support and which is struggling with so many issues at the moment. It will be very important that you send from here a very clear message to the world. It will not be possible without nuclear energy with all the risks which are related but it won’t be possible to do it without nuclear energy. Ladies and gentlemen, [Music] some time ago we had a joint meeting of the government with representatives of automotive industry. There’s a huge pressure on electric on the manufacturing of electric vehicles which will create pressure on production of electricity in Slovakia. Today we have five car manufacturers and we manufacture more than 1 million cars per year and there is so much pressure on electroomobility. So it is our estimate that our consumption may increase until 2040 by 40 to 60%. And we’ll need new sources for this. Moreover, Slovakia as a country, we have to apply for data centers and data centers also require a huge amount of electricity. We will also apply for battery stoages and battery storage also requires a lot of electricity and for this reason I welcome very much that the third unit has started. The fourth unit I expect should be commissioned at the beginning of next year. I thank everybody. This was not an easy task. Mr. Director General, you know how delighted I am when flying above Moz in the helicopter seeing the steam from these chimneys. That was the reason why it was built and we know how important this is for energy security of Slovakia. Let’s move on. Ladies and gentlemen, I’d like to announce you that on the 10th of September this year, the government signed and approved an interstate agreement between Slovaka government and the US government because we want to use the infrastructure of the nuclear power plant in the Yaslosk Bahunit. And we want to build into for an state into state ownership. We want to build another nuclear unit. its output will be higher than 440 which we have. It should be a unit with the output more than 1,000 megawatt. I believe that this is a step which will be important not just for Slovakia but it will be important for the whole Europe especially for central Europe. And if everybody says that one day it will cost a lot of effort after the war when the relationships will be defined in a new way. This decision will play an important role in this region. Someone may ask a question why are we going in a way of diversification? Why are we looking for cooperation in other markets? We started we tried to cooperate with South Korea but there were some issues but it’s a matter of fact that the most probable scenario the most probable scenario is that on the basis of an agreement which we would like to sign with the US government even though it it it has been already agreed on the US side will be a cooperation with an American contractor but we’ll welcome if the US contractor will create a consortium with other entities. I understand that France would like to participate and there are other manufacturers who who could participate in this huge multi-billion project. Slovakia is a country which is able not just to build nuclear power plants. Madame director general saw yesterday in Motz how units three and four are being completed. The third was completed. Now we’re talking about the fourth unit and nobody can question the fact that we have people who are capable of building nuclear power plants which is a fantastic thing. But that’s not all. We are a country which is also interesting because we are able to decommission nuclear power plants. We can even remove the consequences of nuclear stories from 1970s. I don’t want to talk about nuclear accidents but let’s say the sto the story as we talk about hard stories let’s talk about nuclear stories I need to praise myself a bit distinguished ladies and gentlemen when it comes to de decommissioning of yaslo bahunit what we achieved there in the summer for instance there was a deasssembly of the biggest parts of the primary cycle it’s very important that contaminated concrete was removed from those pools where burnt fuel was stored. There were some other parts which had to be cleaned and then we started to deasssemble all these huge facilities and cleaning. There were 4,300 tons of contaminated material with 98% efficiency which is a huge success. I believe that the decommissioning program in the asloke bonita is a program for the whole world and we need to use it to maximum amount. We need to train as many people as possible because also in this cycle in this part of nuclear cycle we need to be successful for this reason. Thank you very much. Thank you to the commission for the cooperation at this demanding project. And I’d like to call upon all interested parties or all entities who are responsible for decommissioning in Los Bun to use this project to improve the good reputation of Slovakia and especially to show that we are an advanced country and we are actually one of the leaders I could say one of the world leaders in the field of nuclear energy even though we’re a small country which only has 5.5 million inhabitants. And that’s not all. We are a country which is interested in being an innovative country. I welcome the agreement which was signed by Yavis company which is the nuclear and decommissioning company with nuclear company in Italy. I was present at the signing of respective agreements and it’s not just the fact that we are interested in creating this small module reactors or doing some innovative events. For me the most interesting project of this collaboration is to create a center a center to process burned fuel and to prepare it for reuse. If we manage to do this, I can say again that we’ll be a leader in innovations and I’m looking forward to the cooperation. Thank you very much for coming to this event and thank you for supporting it in your with your presence. Ladies and gentlemen, at the beginning I was talking about common sense and I expressed the hope that the ideology will not make decisions anymore about things which are very important for us. There’s one unfortunate document on the table called repower EU. I don’t need to hide madame director general because you all know my opinion when it comes to repower. It’s a complete nonsense. When it comes to gas and when it comes to oil, we’re just shooting into our own knee. And I am prepared to quarrel with the European Commission on a at a 24-hour basis to constructively I will try to convince them that this is a nonsensical ideological step. Please do not look with the pro-Russian glasses at the reality. If you put away these glasses, you can take more rational decisions. The biggest danger, madame director general, is when this when nuclear fuel will be included into the document. And what would happen if someone says that we cannot take nuclear fuel from Russian Federation anymore? What would happen? Well, I I believe we all agree that you cannot put anything stick anything into the reactor, you know, any stick. So it requires I’m not an expert but I know at least that you cannot put into Mercedes you cannot put an engine for from Skoda you know it doesn’t work like this if this happens you will threaten energy security energy safety of the EU on the other side United States of America don’t they take a lot of enriched uranium from Russian Federation well there is no ideology there and it doesn’t work but here we’re putting ideology into our decisions which endanger us and therefore as madame director general I’m openly saying that we will never agree with repowering when it comes to 1st of January 2028 what I mean is gas mainly and we will never agree with the fact that we adopt decisions which would damage energy security and today we we produce in Slovakia more than 60% electricity from nuclear energy and we’re a country which is important from this point of view not only for for Slovak territory. It’s also important in terms of stability of this whole region. As I said, it’s not just the question of environment prices. It’s al it also concerns accessibility and stability of energy supplies. Madame Director General, I use your presence here and I’d like to ask you, let’s work on energy prices together, please. Because in Europe, we can do what we need for ourselves. How should we compete? What should we tell our manufacturers, companies in Slovakia? Why our electricity price is higher compared to the United States? Well, let’s not compare ourselves with China. Someone may say that Chinese standards in terms of environment are not as they are in Europe. How should we compete please? Due to these ideological decisions let’s not uh damage the European Union so that we do not prosper and for this reason the prices of energy. What are we going to do about automotive industry? What will be our attitude to repowering? What shall we do with the nuclear energy? These are important issues and not sanctions or whether we like something or don’t like something. Let’s just make order at home. Let’s be successful. Let’s make out of the EU the place where people have best lives. In 2010, Lisbon strategy was supposed to be performed. If I mistaken when it comes to the year, please correct me. But it was stated in Lisnon strategy then that in 2010 Europe the or European Union will be the best place in the world to live when it comes to quality of life and everything in 2010 and I was already the prime minister and we found out that we were not the best place. Then we took the Lisbon strategy and we threw it away to the basket. Then there was a agenda 2020 I believe and the result was is the same. Now we’re build we are setting ourselves incredible energy objectives. I’m waiting for the decisions of the summit in J when it comes to the combustion engines and and the ban of combustion engines until 2035 and I just believe that European Union European Commission will do it differently than we’ve done it so far and we will not adopt goals which are not realistic and which harm us. Slovakia is and wants to be a stable member of the European Union. Slovakia wants to contribute to make sure the EU is a successful project. But Slovakia is not the country which will be silent in spite of the fact that some people might consider us to be small and weak. But once again, Slovakia is not a country which will be silent. We have our government concept of a sovereign Slovak foreign policy. And this concept allows us to openly to to name things openly and clearly. And therefore, please if I said something in my speech which could be disturbing for someone. The only reason why I said it is that this is how I approach all topics I’m I have to face. And to be honest, in the past period, there are so many issues. Dear participants of the 18th European Nuclear Energy Forum, please use the opportunities that this forum gives you. Use it to the maximum extent. As I said at the beginning, I’ll be happy if uh at least one sentence will be spread, one message will be spread. Without nuclear energy, it won’t be possible. Thank you very equipment. Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, before I will tell you a few ideas on behalf of the Slovak government, allow me to make a short reminder or I’d like to say that yesterday in Czech Republic a very important expert in this area died in Czech Republic. We will mention her name. She dedicated her professional work in the field of nuclear safety and for that reason I believe that this is an appropriate forum that Mrs. Draova the chairman the of the nuclear safety authority in Czech Republic that we remember her and I believe it will be symbolic if uh I ask you for a minute of silence to honor Mrs. Draova. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. [Music] [Music] Mr. Ambassador, please give our condolences to the family and relatives of Madame Chairman. Now allow me to delve into the topic of the 18th energy nuclear forum. I was actually at the beginnings 18 years ago. Maybe some people are unhappy that I’m still here, but I’m very pleased that I’m now in a very different atmosphere compared to the situation 18 years ago. I take the enthusiasm which madame moderator expressed at the beginning in relationship with the nuclear energy. But this was not the case before and you know this very well. We remember decisions where common sense was lacking. And I have to mention a decision when conditions were negotiated about the accession of Slovakia to the EU. And these conditions included the obligation to close two nuclear units in a Yaslosk Bun. They had to be decommissioned. It was in June 20, 2004. And I was scratching my head and asking myself what are we going to do? And for this reason to have some documents on the table means to foresee to predict and to make decisions for many years ahead. And we decided during our first mandate in the years 2006 until 2010 that the Italian company NL which was the majority shareholder of Slovak electricity works that we will find supporters to complete third and fourth unit of the nuclear power plant in Modula. To be honest, I have to admit if two units were not decommissioned, we would not have the courage and rational reasons to continue the construction in Moz. [Music] Madame moderator, they were looking at me as if I was crazy in 2008 when we announced that we would complete Moz nuclear nuclear power plant. But we knew very well that nuclear energy plays an extremely important role in terms of uh energy safety. Therefore, I am delighted that today we are celebrating the 18th year of this excellent international event and we are meeting in the atmosphere when we are talking about nuclear energy with enthusiasm which is good. When we should talk about energy today, we should not just say whether they are environmentally in an friendly produced or if they are accessible in terms of price. Even though these two factors are important and I will mention them in my speech but we also need to talk about sufficient amount of energy. We talk need to talk about accessibility and stability and this cannot be achieved without nuclear energy. Let’s keep this in mind and I welcome very much madame director general at this event and I also want to thank the European Commission for changing its attitude to nuclear energy. We have two important programs the nuclear program from the European Commission from the summer and we have state aid framework for net for clean industry. These two documents are very important and we need them in this period and they set the stage to make sure that the nuclear alliance which we have here that it is viable and that it is guaranteed also in the basic documents of the European Commission and the European Union. This is an organization which we all support and which is struggling with so many issues at the moment. It will be very important that you send from here a very clear message to the world. It will not be possible without nuclear energy with all the risks which are related but it won’t be possible to do it without nuclear energy. Ladies and gentlemen, [Music] some time ago we had a joint meeting of the government with representatives of automotive industry. There’s a huge pressure on electric on the manufacturing of electric vehicles which will create pressure on production of electricity in Slovakia. Today we have five car manufacturers and we manufacture more than 1 million cars per year and there is so much pressure on electroomobility. So it is our estimate that our consumption may increase until 2040 by 40 to 60%. And we’ll need new sources for this. Moreover, Slovakia as a country, we have to apply for data centers and data centers also require a huge amount of electricity. We will also apply for battery storageages and battery storage also requires a lot of electricity and for this reason I welcome very much that the third unit has started. The fourth unit I expect should be commissioned at the beginning of next year. I thank everybody. This was not an easy task. Mr. Director General, you know how delighted I am when flying above Moz in the helicopter seeing the steam from these chimneys. That was the reason why it was built and we know how important this is for energy security of Slovakia. Let’s move on. Ladies and gentlemen, I’d like to announce you that on the 10th of September this year, the government signed and approved an interstate agreement between Slovaka government and the US government because we want to use the infrastructure of the nuclear power plant in Yaslo Bahunit. And we want to build into for state into state ownership. We want to build another nuclear unit. its output will be higher than 440 which we have. It should be a unit with the output more than 1,000 megawatt. I believe that this is a step which will be important not just for Slovakia but it will be important for the whole Europe especially for central Europe. And if everybody says that one day it will cost a lot of effort after the war when the relationships will be defined in a new way. This decision will play an important role in this region. Someone may ask a question why are we going in a way of diversification? Why are we looking for cooperation in other markets? We started we tried to cooperate with South Korea but there were some issues but it’s a matter of fact that the most probable scenario the most probable scenario is that on the basis of an agreement which we would like to sign with the US government even though it it it has been already agreed on the US side will be a cooperation with an American contractor but we’ll welcome if the US contractor will create a consortium with other entities. I understand that France would like to participate and there are other manufacturers who who could participate in this huge multi-billion project. Slovakia is a country which is able not just to build nuclear power plants. Madame director general saw yesterday in Mot how units three and four are being completed. The third was completed. Now we’re talking about the fourth unit and nobody can question the fact that we have people who are capable of building nuclear power plants which is a fantastic thing. But that’s not all. We are a country which is also interesting because we are able to decommission nuclear power plants. We can even remove the consequences of nuclear stories from 1970s. I don’t want to talk about nuclear accidents but let’s say the sto the story as we talk about hard stories let’s talk about nuclear stories I need to praise myself a bit distinguished ladies and gentlemen when it comes to de decommissioning of yaslok bahunit what we achieved there in the summer for instance there was a deasssembly of the biggest parts of the primary cycle it’s very important that contaminated concrete was removed from those pools where burnt fuel was stored. There were some other parts which had to be cleaned and then we started to deasssemble all these huge facilities and cleaning. There were 4,300 tons of contaminated material with 98% efficiency which is a huge success. I believe that the decommissioning program in the Aslok Bhunit is a program for the whole world and we need to use it to maximum amount. We need to train as many people as possible because also in this cycle in this part of nuclear cycle we need to be successful for this reason. Thank you very much. Thank you to the commission for the cooperation at this demanding project and I’d like to call upon all interested parties or all entities who are responsible for decommissioning in Los Bins to use this project to improve the good reputation of Slovakia and especially to show that we are an advanced country and we are actually one of the leaders I could say one of the world leaders in the field of nuclear energy even though we’re a small country which only has 5.5 million inhabitants And that’s not all. We are a country which is interested in being an innovative country. I welcome the agreement which was signed by Yavis company which is the nuclear and decommissioning company with nuclear company in Italy. I was present at the signing of respective agreements. And it’s not just the fact that we are interested in creating this small mod module reactors or doing some innovative events. For me, the most interesting project of this collaboration is to create a center, a center to process burned fuel and to prepare it for reuse. If we manage to do this, I can say again that we’ll be a leader in innovations and I’m looking forward to the cooperation. Thank you very much for coming to this event and thank you for supporting it in your with your presence. Ladies and gentlemen, at the beginning I was talking about common sense and I expressed the hope that the ideology will not make decisions anymore about things which are very important for us. There’s one unfortunate document on the table called repower EU. I don’t need to hide, madame director general because you all know my opinion when it comes to repower. It’s a complete nonsense. When it comes to gas and when it comes to oil, we’re just shooting into our own knee. And I am prepared to quarrel with the European Commission on a at a 24-hour basis to constructively I will try to convince them that this is a nonsensical ideological step. Please do not look with the pro-Russian glasses at the reality. If you put away these glasses, you can take more rational decisions. The biggest danger, madame director general, is when this when nuclear fuel will be included into the document. And what would happen if someone says that we cannot take nuclear fuel from Russian Federation anymore? What would happen? Well, I I believe we all agree that you cannot put anything stick anything into the reactor, you know, any stick. So it requires I’m not an expert but I know at least that you cannot put into Mercedes you cannot put an engine for from Shkoda you know it doesn’t work like this if this happens you will threaten energy security energy safety of the EU on the other side United States of America don’t they take a lot of enriched uranium from Russian Federation well there is no ideology there and it doesn’t work but Here we’re putting ideology into our decisions which endanger us and therefore as madame director general I’m openly saying that we will never agree with repowering when it comes to 1st of January 2028. What I mean is gas mainly and we will never agree with the fact that we adopt decisions which will damage energy security. And today we we produce in Slovakia more than 60% electricity from nuclear energy and we’re a country which is important from this point of view not only for for Slovak territory. It’s also important in terms of stability of this whole region. As I said it’s not just the question of environment prices. It’s al it also concerns accessibility and stability of energy supplies. Madame Director General, I use your presence here and I’d like to ask you, let’s work on energy prices together, please. Because in Europe, we can do what we need for ourselves. How should we compete? What should we tell our manufacturers, companies in Slovakia? Why our electricity price is higher compared to the United States? Well, let’s not compare ourselves with China. Someone may say that Chinese standards in terms of environment are not as they are in Europe. But how should we compete please? Due to these ideological decisions [Music] let’s not uh damage the European Union so that we do not prosper and for this reason the prices of energy. What are we going to do about automotive industry? What will be our attitude to repowering? What shall we do with the nuclear energy? These are important issues and not sanctions or whether we like something or don’t like something. Let’s just make order at home. Let’s be successful. Let’s make out of the EU the place where people have best lives. In 2010, Lisbon strategy was supposed to be performed. If I mistaken when it comes to the year, please correct me. But it was stated in Lisbon strategy then that in 2010 Europe or European Union will be the best place in the world to live when it comes to quality of life and everything. In 2010 and I was already the prime minister and we found out that we were not the best place. Then we took the Lisbon strategy and we threw it away to the basket. Then there was a agenda 2020 I I believe and the result was is the same. Now we’re build we are setting ourselves incredible energy objectives. I’m waiting for the decisions of the summit in J when it comes to the combustion engines and and the ban of combustion engines until 2035 and I just believe that European Union European Commission will do it differently than we’ve done it so far and we will not adopt goals which are not realistic and which harm us. Slovakia is and wants to be a stable member of the European Union. Slovakia wants to contribute to make sure the EU is a successful project. But Slovakia is not the country which will be silent in spite of the fact that some people might consider us to be small and weak. But once again, Slovakia is not a country which will be silent. We have our government concept of a sovereign Slovak foreign policy. And this concept allows us to openly to to name things openly and clearly. And therefore, please if I said something in my speech which could be disturbing for someone. The only reason why I said it is that this is how I approach all topics I’m I have to face. And to be honest, in the past period, there are so many issues. Dear participants of the 18th European Nuclear Energy Forum, please use the opportunities that this forum gives you. Use it to the maximum extent. As I said at the beginning, I’ll be happy if uh at least one sentence will be spread, one message will be spread. without nuclear energy it won’t be possible. Thank you very gentlemen. I’ll wait so that you have a chance to use the interpretation equipment. Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, before I will tell you a few ideas on behalf of the Slovak government, allow me to make a short reminder or I’d like to say that yesterday in Czech Republic a very important expert in this area died in Czech Republic. We will mention her name. She dedicated her professional work in the field of nuclear safety and for that reason I believe that this is an appropriate forum that Mrs. Draova the chairman the of the nuclear safety authority in Czech Republic that we remember her and I believe it will be symbolic if uh I ask you for a minute of silence to honor Mrs. Draova. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. [Music] [Music] Mr. Ambassador, please give our condolences to the family and relatives of Madame Chairman. Now, allow me to delve into the topic of the 18th Energy Nuclear Forum. I was actually at the beginnings 18 years ago. Maybe some people are unhappy that I’m still here, but I’m very pleased that I’m now in a very different atmosphere compared to the situation 18 years ago. I take the enthusiasm which madame moderator expressed at the beginning in relationship with the nuclear energy. But this was not the case before and you know this very well. We remember decisions where common sense was lacking. And I have to mention a decision when conditions were negotiated about the accession of Slovakia to the EU. And these conditions included the obligation to close two nuclear units in Yaslo. They had to be decommissioned. It was in June 20, 2004. And I was scratching my head and asking myself what are we going to do? And for this reason to have some documents on the table means to foresee to predict and to make decisions for many years ahead. And we decided during our first mandate in the years 2006 until 2010 that the Italian company NL which was the majority shareholder of Slovak electricity worked that we will find supporters to complete third and fourth unit of the nuclear power plant in Moza. To be honest, I have to admit if two units were not decommissioned, we would not have the courage and rational reasons to continue the construction in Mahot. [Music] Madame moderator, they were looking at me as if I was crazy in 2008 when we announced that we would complete Moz nuclear nuclear power plant. But we knew very well that nuclear energy plays an extremely important role in terms of uh energy safety. Therefore, I am delighted that today we are celebrating the 18th year of this excellent international event and we are meeting in the atmosphere when we are talking about nuclear energy with enthusiasm which is good. When we should talk about energy today, we should not just say whether they are environmentally in an friendly produced or if they are accessible in terms of price. Even though these two factors are important and I will mention them in my speech but we also need to talk about sufficient amount of energy. We talk need to talk about accessibility and stability and this cannot be achieved without nuclear energy. Let’s keep this in mind and I welcome very much madame director general at this event and I also want to thank the European Commission for changing its attitude to nuclear energy. We have two important programs the nuclear program from the European Commission from the summer and we have state aid framework for net for clean industry. These two documents are very important and we need them in this period and they set the stage to make sure that the nuclear alliance which we have here that it is viable and that it is allow me to make a short reminder or I’d like to say that yesterday in Czech Republic a very important expert in this area died in Czech Republic. We will mention her name. She dedicated her professional work in the field of nuclear safety and for that reason I believe that this is an appropriate forum that Mrs. Draova the chairman of the nuclear safety authority in Czech Republic that we remember her and I believe it will be symbolic if uh I ask you for a minute of silence to honor Mrs. Draova. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. [Music] [Music] Mr. Ambassador, please give our condolences to the family and relatives of Madame Chairman. Now, allow me to delve into the topic of the 18th Energy Nuclear Forum. I was actually at the beginnings 18 years ago. Maybe some people are unhappy that I’m still here, but I’m very pleased that I’m now in a very different atmosphere compared to the situation 18 years ago. I take the enthusiasm which madame moderator expressed at the beginning in relationship with the nuclear energy. But this was not the case before and you know this very well. We remember decisions where common sense was lacking. And I have to mention a decision when conditions were negotiated about the accession of Slovakia to the EU. And these conditions included the obligation to close two nuclear units in Yaslosk. They had to be decommissioned. It was in June 20, 2004 and I was scratching my head and asking myself what are we going to do and for this reason to have some documents on the table means to foresee to predict and to make decisions for many years ahead. And we decided during our first mandate in the years 2006 until 2010 that the Italian company NL which was the majority shareholder of Slovak electricity works that we will find supporters to complete third and fourth unit of the nuclear power plant in Modula. To be honest, I have to admit if two units were not decommissioned, we would not have the courage and rational reasons to continue the construction in Mot. [Music] Madame moderator, they were looking at me as if I was crazy in 2008 when we announced that we would complete Moz nuclear nuclear power plant. But we knew very well that nuclear energy plays an extremely important role in terms of uh energy safety. Therefore, I am delighted that today we are celebrating the 18th year of this excellent international event and we are meeting in the atmosphere when we are talking about nuclear energy with enthusiasm which is good. When we should talk about energy today, we should not just say whether they are environmentally in an friendly produced or if they are accessible in terms of price. Even though these two factors are important and I will mention them in my speech but we also need to talk about sufficient amount of energy. We talk need to talk about accessibility and stability and this cannot be achieved without nuclear energy. Let’s keep this in mind and I welcome very much madame director general at this event and I also want to thank the European Commission for changing its attitude to nuclear energy. We have two important programs the nuclear program from the European Commission from the summer and we have state aid framework for net for clean industry. These two documents are very important and we need them in this period and they set the stage to make sure that the nuclear alliance which we have here that it is viable and that it is guaranteed also in the basic documents of the European Commission and the European Union. This is an organization which we all support and which is struggling with so many issues at the moment. It will be very important that you send from here a very clear message to the world. It will not be possible without nuclear energy with all the risks which are related but it won’t be possible to do it without nuclear energy. Ladies and gentlemen, [Music] some time ago we had a joint meeting of the government with representatives of automotive industry. There’s a huge pressure on electric on the manufacturing of electric vehicles which will create pressure on production of electricity in Slovakia. Today we have five car manufacturers and we manufacture more than 1 million cars per year and there is so much pressure on electroomobility. So it is our estimate that our consumption may increase until 2040 by 40 to 60%. And we’ll need new sources for this. Moreover, Slovakia as a country we have to apply for data centers and data centers also require a huge amount of electricity. We will also apply for battery storageages and battery storage also requires a lot of electricity and for this reason I welcome very much that the third unit has started. The fourth unit I expect should be commissioned at the beginning of next year. I thank everybody. This was not an easy task. Mr. Director General, you know how delighted I am when flying above Mot in the helicopter seeing the steam from these chimneys. That was the reason why it was built and we know how important this is for energy security of Slovakia. Let’s move on. Ladies and gentlemen, I’d like to announce you that on the 10th of September this year, the government signed and approved an interstate agreement between Slovaka government and the US government because we want to use the infrastructure of the nuclear power plant in Yaslo Bahunit. And we want to build into for an state into state ownership. We want to build another nuclear unit. its output will be higher than 440 which we have. It should be a unit with the output more than 1,000 megawatt. I believe that this is a step which will be important not just for Slovakia but it will be important for the whole Europe especially for central Europe. And if everybody says that one day it will cost a lot of effort after the war when the relationships will be defined in a new way. This decision will play an important role in this region. Someone may ask a question why are we going in a way of diversification? Why are we looking for cooperation in other markets? We started we tried to cooperate with South Korea but there were some issues but it’s a matter of fact that the most probable scenario the most probable scenario is that on the basis of an agreement which we would like to sign with the US government even though it it it has been already agreed on the US side will be a cooperation with an American contractor but we’ll welcome if the US contractor will create a consortium with other entities. I understand that France would like to participate and there are other manufacturers who who could participate in this huge multi-billion project. Slovakia is a country which is able not just to build nuclear power plants. Madame director general saw yesterday in Moz how units three and four are being completed. The third was completed. Now we’re talking about the fourth unit and nobody can question the fact that we have people who are capable of building nuclear power plants which is a fantastic thing. But that’s not all. We are a country which is also interesting because we are able to decommission nuclear power plants. We can even remove the consequences of nuclear stories from 1970s. I don’t want to talk about nuclear accidents but let’s say the sto the story as we talk about hard stories let’s talk about nuclear stories I need to praise myself a bit distinguished ladies and gentlemen when it comes to de decommissioning of yaske what we achieved there in the summer for instance there was a deasssembly of the biggest parts of the primary cycle it’s very important that contaminated concrete was removed from those pools where burnt fuel was stored. There were some other parts which had to be cleaned and then we started to deasssemble all these huge facilities and cleaning. There were 4,300 tons of contaminated material with 98% efficiency which is a huge success. I believe that the decommissioning program in the Aslok Bonita is a program for the whole world and we need to use it to maximum amount. We need to train as many people as possible because also in this cycle in this part of nuclear cycle we need to be successful for this reason. Thank you very much. Thank you to the commission for the cooperation at this demanding project and I’d like to call upon all interested parties or all entities who are responsible for decommissioning in Los Buna to use this project to improve the good reputation of Slovakia and especially to show that we are an advanced country and we are actually one of the leaders I could say one of the world leaders in the field of nuclear energy even though we’re a small country which only has 5.5 million inhabitants. And that’s not all. We are a country which is interested in being an innovative country. I welcome the agreement which was signed by Yavis company which is the nuclear and decommissioning company with nuclear company in Italy. I was present at the signing of respective agreements. And it’s not just the fact that we are interested in creating this small mod module reactors or doing some innovative events. For me, the most interesting project of this collaboration is to create a center, a center to process burned fuel and to prepare it for reuse. If we manage to do this, I can say again that we’ll be a leader in innovations and I’m looking forward to the cooperation. Thank you very much for coming to this event and thank you for supporting it in your with your presence. Ladies and gentlemen, at the beginning I was talking about common sense and I expressed the hope that the ideology will not make decisions anymore about things which are very important for us. There is one unfortunate document on the table called repower EU. I don’t need to hide madame director general because you all know my opinion when it comes to repower. It’s a complete nonsense. When it comes to gas and when it comes to oil, we’re just shooting into our own knee. And I am prepared to quarrel with the European Commission on a at a 24-hour basis to constructively I will try to convince them that this is a nonsensical ideological step. Please do not look with the pro-Russian glasses at the reality. If you put away these glasses, you can take more rational decisions. The biggest danger, madame director general, is when this when nuclear fuel will be included into the document. And what would happen if someone says that we cannot take nuclear fuel from Russian Federation anymore? What would happen? Well, I I believe we all agree that you cannot put anything stick anything into the reactor, you know, any stick. So it requires I’m not an expert but I know at least that you cannot put into Mercedes you cannot put an engine for from Skoda you know it doesn’t work like this if this happens you will threaten energy security energy safety of the EU on the other side United States of America don’t they take a lot of enriched uranium from Russian Federation well there is no ideology there and it doesn’t work but Here we’re putting ideology into our decisions which endanger us and therefore as madame director general I’m openly saying that we will never agree with repowering when it comes to 1st of January 2028. What I mean is gas mainly and we will never agree with the fact that we adopt decisions which will damage energy security. And today we we produce in Slovakia more than 60% electricity from nuclear energy and we’re a country which is important from this point of view not only for for Slovak territory it’s also important in terms of stability of this whole region as I said it’s not just the question of environment prices it’s all it also concerns accessibility and stability of energy supplies madame director general I use your presence here and I’d like to ask you. Let’s work on energy prices together, please. Because in Europe, we can do what we need for ourselves. How should we compete? What should we tell our manufacturers, companies in Slovakia? Why our electricity price is higher compared to the United States? Well, let’s not compare ourselves with China. Someone may say that Chinese standards in terms of environment are not as they are in Europe. But how should we compete? Please, due to these ideological decisions, [Music] let’s not uh damage the European Union so that we do not prosper. And for this reason, the prices of energy, what are we going to do about automotive industry? What will be our attitude to repowering? What shall we do with the nuclear energy? These are important issues and not sanctions or whether we like something or don’t like something. Let’s just make order at home. Let’s be successful. Uh let’s make out of the EU the place where people have best lives. In 2010, Lisbon strategy was supposed to be performed. If I mistaken when it comes to the year, please correct me. But it was stated in Lisbon strategy then that in 2010 Europe the or European Union will be the best place in the world to live when it comes to quality of life and everything. In 2010 and I was already the prime minister and we found out that we were not the best place. Then we took the Lisbon strategy and we threw it away to the basket. Then there was a agenda 2020 I believe and the result was is the same. Now we’re build we are setting ourselves incredible energy objectives. I’m waiting for the decisions of the summit in J when it comes to the combustion engines and and the ban of combustion engines until 2035 and I just believe that European Union European Commission will do it differently than we’ve done it so far and we will not adopt goals which are not realistic and which harm us. Slovakia is and wants to be a stable member of the European Union. Slovakia wants to contribute to make sure the EU is a successful project. But Slovakia is not the country which will be silent in spite of the fact that some people might consider us to be small and weak. But once again, Slovakia is not a country which will be silent. We have our government concept of a sovereign Slovak foreign policy. And this concept allows us to openly to to name things openly and clearly. And therefore, please if I said something in my speech which could be disturbing for someone. The only reason why I said it is that this is how I approach all topics I’m I have to face. And to be honest, in the past period, there are so many issues. Dear participants of the 18th European Nuclear Energy Forum, please use the opportunities that this forum gives you. Use it to the maximum extent. As I said at the beginning, I’ll be happy if uh at least one sentence will be spread, one message will be spread. Without nuclear energy, it won’t be possible. Thank you very equipment. Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, before I will tell you a few ideas on behalf of the Slovak government, allow me to make a short reminder or I’d like to say that yesterday in Czech Republic a very important expert in this area died in Czech Republic. We will mention her name. She dedicated her professional work in the field of nuclear safety and for that reason I believe that this is an appropriate forum that Mrs. Draova the chairman the of the nuclear safety authority in Czech Republic that we remember her and I believe it will be symbolic if uh I ask you for a minute of silence to honor Mrs. Draova. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. [Music] [Music] Mr. Ambassador, please give our condolences to the family and relatives of Madame Chairman. Now, allow me to delve into the topic of the 18th Energy Nuclear Forum. I was actually at the beginnings 18 years ago. Maybe some people are unhappy that I’m still here, but I’m very pleased that I’m now in a very different atmosphere compared to the situation 18 years ago. I take the enthusiasm which madame moderator expressed at the beginning in relationship with the nuclear energy. But this was not the case before and you know this very well. We remember decisions where common sense was lacking. And I have to mention a decision when conditions were negotiated about the accession of Slovakia to the EU. And these conditions included the obligation to close two nuclear units in Yaslosk. They had to be decommissioned. It was in June 20, 2004. And I was scratching my head and asking myself what are we going to do? And for this reason to have some documents on the table means to foresee to predict and to make decisions for many years ahead. And we decided during our first mandate in the years 2006 until 2010 that the Italian company NL which was the majority shareholder of Slovak electricity works that we will find supporters to complete third and fourth unit of the nuclear power plant in Moza. To be honest, I have to admit if two units were not decommissioned, we would not have the courage and rational reasons to continue the construction in Motza. [Music] Madame moderator, they were looking at me as if I was crazy in 2008 when we announced that we would complete Moz nuclear nuclear power plant. But we knew very well that nuclear energy plays an extremely important role in terms of uh energy safety. Therefore, I am delighted that today we are celebrating the 18th year of this excellent international event and we are meeting in the atmosphere when we are talking about nuclear energy with enthusiasm which is good. When we should talk about energy today, we should not just say whether they are environmentally in an friendly produced or if they are accessible in terms of price. Even though these two factors are important and I will mention them in my speech but we also need to talk about sufficient amount of energy. We talk need to talk about accessibility and stability and this cannot be achieved without nuclear energy. Let’s keep this in mind and I welcome very much madame director general at this event and I also want to thank the European Commission for changing its attitude to nuclear energy. We have two important programs the nuclear program from the European Commission from the summer and we have state aid framework for net for clean industry. These two documents are very important and we need them in this period and they set the stage to make sure that the nuclear alliance which we have here that it is viable and that it is guaranteed also in the basic documents of the European Commission and European Union. This is an organization which we all support and which is struggling with so many issues at the moment. It will be very important that you send from here a very clear message to the world. It will not be possible without nuclear energy with all the risks which are related but it won’t be possible to do it without nuclear energy. Ladies and gentlemen, [Music] some time ago we had a joint meeting of the government with representatives of automotive industry. There’s a huge pressure on electric on the manufacturing of electric vehicles which will create pressure on production of electricity in Slovakia. Today we have five car manufacturers and we manufacture more than 1 million cars per year and there is so much pressure on electroomobility. So it is our estimate that our consumption may increase until 2040 by 40 to 60%. And we’ll need new sources for this. Moreover, Slovakia as a country, we have to apply for data centers and data centers also require a huge amount of electricity. We will also apply for battery stoages and battery storage also requires a lot of electricity and for this reason I welcome very much that the third unit has started. The fourth unit I expect should be commissioned at the beginning of next year. I thank everybody. This was not an easy task. Mr. Director General, you know how delighted I am when flying above Moz in the helicopter seeing the steam from these chimneys. That was the reason why it was built and we know how important this is for energy security of Slovakia. Let’s move on. Ladies and gentlemen, I’d like to announce you that on the 10th of September this year, the government signed and approved an interstate agreement between Slovaka government and the US government because we want to use the infrastructure of the nuclear power plant in Yaslo Bahunit and we want to build into for an state into state ownership. We want to build another nuclear unit. its output will be higher than 440 which we have. It should be a unit with the output more than 1,000 megawatt. I believe that this is a step which will be important not just for Slovakia but it will be important for the whole Europe especially for central Europe. And if everybody says that one day it will cost a lot of effort after the war when the relationships will be defined in a new way. This decision will play an important role in this region. Someone may ask a question why are we going in a way of diversification? Why are we looking for cooperation in other markets? We started we tried to cooperate with South Korea but there were some issues but it’s a matter of fact that the most probable scenario the most probable scenario is that on the basis of an agreement which we would like to sign with the US government even though it it it has been already agreed on the US side will be a cooperation with an American contractor but we’ll welcome if the US contractor will create a consortium with other entities. I understand that France would like to participate and there are other manufacturers who who could participate in this huge multi-billion project. Slovakia is a country which is able not just to build nuclear power plants. Madame director general saw yesterday in Motz how units three and four are being completed. The third was completed. Now we’re talking about the fourth unit and nobody can question the fact that we have people who are capable of building nuclear power plants which is a fantastic thing. But that’s not all. We are a country which is also interesting because we are able to decommission nuclear power plants. We can even remove the consequences of nuclear stories from 1970s. I don’t want to talk about nuclear accidents but let’s say the sto the story as we talk about hard stories let’s talk about nuclear stories I need to praise myself a bit distinguished ladies and gentlemen when it comes to de decommissioning of yaslo bahunit what we achieved there in the summer for instance there was a deasssembly of the biggest parts of the primary cycle it’s very important that contaminated concrete was removed from those pools where burnt fuel was stored. There were some other parts which had to be cleaned and then we started to deasssemble all these huge facilities and cleaning. There were 4,300 tons of contaminated material with 98% efficiency which is a huge success. I believe that the decommissioning program in the asloke bun is a program for the whole world and we need to use it to maximum amount. We need to train as many people as possible because also in this cycle in this part of nuclear cycle we need to be successful for this reason. Thank you very much. Thank you to the commission for the cooperation at this demanding project and I’d like to call upon all interested parties or all entities who are responsible for decommissioning in Los Bun to use this project to improve the good reputation of Slovakia and especially to show that we are an advanced country and we are actually one of the leaders I could say one of the world leaders in the field of nuclear energy even though we’re a small country which only has 5.5 million inhabitants And that’s not all. We are a country which is interested in being an innovative country. I welcome the agreement which was signed by Yavis company which is the nuclear and decommissioning company with nuclear company in Italy. I was present at the signing of respective agreements. And it’s not just the fact that we are interested in creating this small mod module reactors or doing some innovative events. For me, the most interesting project of this collaboration is to create a center, a center to process burned fuel and to prepare it for reuse. If we manage to do this, I can say again that we’ll be a leader in innovations and I’m looking forward to the cooperation. Thank you very much for coming to this event and thank you for supporting it in your with your presence. Ladies and gentlemen, at the beginning I was talking about common sense and I expressed the hope that the ideology will not make decisions anymore about things which are very important for us. There’s one unfortunate document on the table called repower EU. I don’t need to hide madame director general because you all know my opinion when it comes to repower. It’s a complete nonsense. When it comes to gas and when it comes to oil, we’re just shooting into our own knee. And I am prepared to quarrel with the European Commission on a at a 24-hour basis to constructively I will try to convince them that this is a nonsensical ideological step. Please do not look with the pro-Russian glasses at the reality. If you put away these glasses, you can take more rational decisions. The biggest danger, madame director general, is when this when nuclear fuel will be included into the document. And what would happen if someone says that we cannot take nuclear fuel from Russian Federation anymore? What would happen? Well, I I believe we all agree that you cannot put anything stick anything into the reactor, you know, any stick. So it requires I’m not an expert but I know at least that you cannot put into Mercedes you cannot put an engine for from Skoda you know it doesn’t work like this if this happens you will threaten energy security energy safety of the EU on the other side United States of America don’t they take a lot of enriched uranium from Russian Federation well there is no ideology there and it doesn’t work but here were putting ideology into our decisions which endanger us and therefore as madame director general I’m openly saying that we will never agree with repowering when it comes to 1st of January 2028 what I mean is gas mainly and we will never agree with the fact that we adopt decisions which would damage energy security and today we we produce in Slovakia more than 60% electricity from nuclear energy and we’re a country which is important from this point of view not only for for Slovak territory it’s also important in terms of stability of this whole region as I said it’s not just the question of environment prices it’s al it also concerns accessibility and stability of energy supplies madame director general I use your presence here and I’d like to ask you let’s work on energy prices together please because in Europe we can do what we need for ourselves. How should we compete? What should we tell our manufacturers, companies in Slovakia? Why our electricity price is higher compared to the United States? Well, let’s not compare ourselves with China. Someone may say that Chinese standards in terms of environment are not as they are in Europe. But how should we compete? Please, due to these ideological decisions, Let’s not uh damage the European Union so that we do not prosper and for this reason the prices of energy. What are we going to do about automotive industry? What will be our attitude to repowering? What shall we do with the nuclear energy? These are important issues and not sanctions or whether we like something or don’t like something. Let’s just make order at home. Let’s be successful. Let’s make out of the EU the place where people have best lives. In 2010, Lisbon strategy was supposed to be performed. If I mistaken when it comes to the year, please correct me, but it was stated in Lisbon strategy then that in 2010 Europe or European Union will be the best place in the world to live when it comes to quality of life and everything. in 2010 and I was already the prime minister and we found out that we were not the best place. Then we took the Lisbon strategy and we threw it away to the basket. Then there was a agenda 2020 I believe and the result was is the same. Now we’re build we are setting ourselves incredible energy objectives. I’m waiting for the decisions of the summit in J when it comes to the combustion engines and and the ban of combustion engines until 2035 and I just believe that European Union European Commission will do it differently than we’ve done it so far and we will not adopt goals which are not realistic and which harm us. Slovakia is and wants to be a stable member of the European Union. Slovakia wants to contribute to make sure the EU is a successful project. But Slovakia is not the country which will be silent in spite of the fact that some people might consider us to be small and weak. But once again, Slovakia is not a country which will be silent. We have our government concept of a sovereign Slovak foreign policy. And this concept allows us to openly to to name things openly and clearly. And therefore, please if I said something in my speech which could be disturbing for someone. The only reason why I said it is that this is how I approach all topics I’m I have to face. And to be honest, in the past period, there are so many issues. Dear participants of the 18th European Nuclear Energy Forum, please use the opportunities that this forum gives you. Use it to the maximum extent. As I said at the beginning, I’ll be happy if uh at least one sentence will be spread, one message will be spread. Without nuclear energy, it won’t be possible. Thank you very equipment. Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, before I will tell you a few ideas on behalf of the Slovak government, allow me to make a short reminder or I’d like to say that yesterday in Czech Republic a very important expert in this area died in Czech Republic. We will mention her name. She dedicated her professional work in the field of nuclear safety and for that reason I believe that this is an appropriate forum that Mrs. Draova the chairman the of the nuclear safety authority in Czech Republic that we remember her and I believe it will be symbolic if uh I ask you for a minute of silence to honor Mrs. Draova. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. [Music] [Music] Mr. Ambassador, please give our condolences to the family and relatives of Madame Chairman. Now, allow me to delve into the topic of the 18th Energy Nuclear Forum. I was actually at the beginnings 18 years ago. Maybe some people are unhappy that I’m still here, but I’m very pleased that I’m now in a very different atmosphere compared to the situation 18 years ago. I take the enthusiasm which madame moderator expressed at the beginning in relationship with the nuclear energy. But this was not the case before and you know this very well. We remember decisions where common sense was lacking. And I have to mention a decision when conditions were negotiated about the accession of Slovakia to the EU. And these conditions included the obligation to close two nuclear units in Yaslo. They had to be decommissioned. It was in June 20, 2004. And I was scratching my head and asking myself what are we going to do? And for this reason to have some documents on the table means to foresee to predict and to make decisions for many years ahead. And we decided during our first mandate in the years 2006 until 2010 that the Italian company NL which was the majority shareholder of Slovak electricity works that we will find supporters to complete third and fourth unit of the nuclear power plant in Modula. To be honest, I have to admit if two units were not decommissioned, we would not have the courage and rational reasons to continue the construction in Mahot. [Music] Madame moderator, they were looking at me as if I was crazy in 2008 when we announced that we would complete Moz nuclear nuclear power plant. But we knew very well that nuclear energy plays an extremely important role in terms of energy safety. Therefore, I am delighted that today we are celebrating the 18th year of this excellent international event and we are meeting in the atmosphere when we are talking about nuclear energy with enthusiasm which is good. When we should talk about energy today, we should not just say whether they are environmentally in an friendly produced or if they are accessible in terms of price. Even though these two factors are important and I will mention them in my speech but we also need to talk about sufficient amount of energy. We talk need to talk about accessibility and stability and this cannot be achieved without nuclear energy. Let’s keep this in mind and I welcome very much madame director general at this event and I also want to thank the European Commission for changing its attitude to nuclear energy. We have two important programs the nuclear program from the European Commission from the summer and we have state aid framework for net for clean industry. These two documents are very important and we need them in this period and they set the stage to make sure that the nuclear alliance which we have here that it is viable and that it is guaranteed also in the basic documents of the European Commission and European Union. This is an organization which we all support and which is struggling with so many issues at the moment. It will be very important that you send from here a very clear message to the world. It will not be possible without nuclear energy with all the risks which are related but it won’t be possible to do it without nuclear energy. Ladies and gentlemen, [Music] some time ago we had a joint meeting of the government with representatives of automotive industry. There’s a huge pressure on electric on the manufacturing of electric vehicles which will create pressure on production of electricity in Slovakia. Today we have five car manufacturers and we manufacture more than 1 million cars per year and there is so much pressure on electroomobility. So it is our estimate that our consumption may increase until 2040 by 40 to 60%. And we’ll need new sources for this. Moreover, Slovakia as a country, we have to apply for data centers and data centers also require a huge amount of electricity. We will also apply for battery stoages and battery storage also requires a lot of electricity and for this reason I welcome very much that the third unit has started. The fourth unit I expect should be commissioned at the beginning of next year. I thank everybody. This was not an easy task. Mr. Director General, you know how delighted I am when flying above Mo in the helicopter seeing the steam from these chimneys. That was the reason why it was built and we know how important this is for energy security of Slovakia. Let’s move on. Ladies and gentlemen, I’d like to announce you that on the 10th of September this year, the government signed and approved an interstate agreement between Slovaka government and the US government because we want to use the infrastructure of the nuclear power plant in Yasloke Bahunit. And we want to build into for an state into state ownership. We want to build another nuclear unit. its output will be higher than 440 which we have. It should be a unit with the output more than 1,000 megawatt. I believe that this is a step which will be important not just for Slovakia but it will be important for the whole Europe especially for central Europe. And if everybody says that one day it will cost a lot of effort after the war when the relationships will be defined in a new way this decision will play an important role in this region. Someone may ask a question why are we going in a way of diversification? Why are we looking for cooperation in other markets? We started we tried to cooperate with South Korea but there were some issues but it’s a matter of fact that the most probable scenario the most probable scenario is that on the basis of an agreement which we would like to sign with the US Government
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