Slovak companies not pleased by compromise with Brussels

The sale and purchase of carbon dioxide emissions used to be a topic only of interest to environmentalists - until it started to be about money. Industrial associations in Western Europe started fighting for higher quotas earlier than in Slovakia. Initially, Slovak companies were satisfied with the quotas proposed as these did not force them to decrease production, or invest extensively in more environmentally friendly production, or purchase emission permits for exceeding the quotas set. Everything changed after the European Commission approved the Slovak plan in autumn last year. This set a limit 14% lower than the original proposal. The largest Slovak producer of carbon dioxide - U.S.Steel Kosice - challenged the new quotas directly at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg. But other producers also object. 'The decrease is an unfortunate and strategically bad move for Slovakia,' said the Head of the Environmental Department at Slovenske elektrarne (Slovak Electric), Branislav Mihaly. And added that the Ministry of Environment was fully responsible for this situation. 'Including the political responsibility of Minister Laszlo Miklos,' he added. Given a quota reduction of 14%, he considers it very likely that Slovak Electric will follow the example of the Kosice steel works. The state must allocate the new quotas before the end of February. The Ministry announced that for large sources, it would seek solutions by individual negotiations. For smaller sources there would be a flat rate decrease. In theory, if companies were to take full advantage of the original quotas, the new allocation plan would cost them 40 to 50 mil. EUR (1.6 -2 bill. Slovak crowns). TREND based its calculation on the current market price of emissions - 8-10 EUR/ton of carbon dioxide