Slovakia's gas reserves should last until September, Minister of Economy Tomas Malatinsky said on RTVS's political chat show on Sunday.
Also on the show, Juraj Miskov, former economy minister, said he believes that Slovakia is likely to face the most serious energy security threat since its creation in 1993.
"Sometimes I have the impression that this Government isn't sufficiently aware of this, because it seems as if it was burying its head in the sand," he said.
Malatinsky doesn't agree that the Government is doing little to ensure Slovakia's energy security. "There's been a significant shift since 2009, when we were similarly affected by the gas crisis.
Things have improved in that we have greater storage capacity than we had at that time," stressed Malatinsky with the fact that gas reservoirs are gradually being filled and that at the moment there are two billion cubic meters of gas in them.
He also noted that there's an option to have gas delivered from other routes than from Ukraine such as from the Czech Republic - as was the case in 2009 - and Austria.
The Government should immediately take measures that will show how it intends to protect the people, if Russia cuts off Slovakia's supply of gas," said Miskov, proposing to adopt a law, under which in a state of emergency, gas reserves would be used only for the population's consumption.
At the same time, Miskov doesn't think that common energy policy for the European Union would be a suitable solution to the situation, since all countries pursue their own national interest.
http://www.neurope.eu/article/slovakias-energy-security-highlighted-tv-debate