Slovakia will face penalties if it restarts a Soviet-era nuclear reactor, the European Commission said Monday.
Slovakia has said it will restart the reactor to reduce its reliance on Russian gas, which isn't reaching European Union countries because of a dispute between OAO Gazprom (GAZP.RS) and Ukraine's Naftogaz. Eighty percent of Russian gas shipped to the E.U. passes through Ukraine's pipeline network.
Slovakia agreed to shutter its reactors when it joined the E.U. in 2004. It had a three-year provision to restart the reactors in an emergency situation, but that deal has expired.
If Slovakia restarts a reactor, "it would be a serious violation...of (E.U.) law and the commission would respond accordingly," the commission's spokesman on energy issues Ferran Tarradellas told a news conference.