Before the government meeting, the Minister of Labor Milan Krajniak and the State Secretary of the Ministry of Economy Karol Galek commented on the situation. Updated 16:52 Matovič stated that he would currently like Sulík to remain in the ministerial chair. “It is his butter. When some experts see this, they will be scratching their heads if they recalculate it,” he said. Updated 16:40 “The Minister of the Economy should have been here. He was connected for 5 minutes out of five hours,” stated Matovič and criticized the fact that people will pay twice as much despite the ceiling. “Upstairs, we all blew our fuses when we heard the sentence from the state secretary that we have solutions. I’m not surprised that he lost his temper,” he said. Updated 16:37 “Today we learned with horror that people will pay 1.5 billion more just for electricity,” Matovič said after the government meeting and criticized Sulík’s resort. Updated 16:33 Labor Minister Milan Krajniak criticizes the measures of the Ministry of Economy. According to him, no solutions are presented and the ceiling still means 101 percent more expensive electricity and 50 percent more expensive gas for households. Updated 16:09 Gas prices will be higher The price of gas will be higher for households. The state at least wants to mix cheap gas from the state’s 30-day reserve with more expensive gas currently available to suppliers. According to him, it is difficult to estimate what increase can be expected. “We expect an increase of 30 to 40 percent. However, the price of the commodity has risen by 1,200 to 1,500 percent on the markets,” added Galek. For the year 2023, the government wants to ensure more favorable gas prices for households thanks to historically cheap gas, which is kept in reservoirs in Dolné Bojanovice. “We will mix it with the gas that traders buy. Without having to change contracts, suppliers will provide this cheaper gas to households,” said Galek. Photo gallery (6) Source: Topky/Jano Zemiar Updated 15:40 Galek announced that the price of electricity will be capped at 61.21 euros per megawatt hour for the next two years. Updated 15:39 The government meeting has ended. State Secretary Karol Galek reports on draft laws on the energy crisis. “Unfortunately, the Ministry of Economy has been alone in these efforts so far,” he said at the beginning, adding that they had been denied funding several times. Today was not about approval, but about further debates. Updated 13:28 Mária Kolíková to the crisis Legally, it looks like the minister is in resignation, but he performs all functions as before. The Minister of Justice, Mária Kolíková, claims that nothing has changed about the Monday deadline for submitting the resignation. “The cards are clearly dealt. I can’t tell you now what the scenario will be on Monday,” she said. “This government is in a hybrid format, several are connected online, including Richard Sulík,” she said. As for the proposals for the energy crisis, according to the Minister of Justice, there is a very substantive debate going on. Updated 13:03 Hospitals will receive money from the recovery plan according to the regional principle Hospitals will receive money from the recovery plan for large construction and reconstruction projects according to the regional principle. The methodology for prioritizing projects was approved by the government on Friday. The material also contains criteria for professional assessment of projects and parameters for determining the order. “The criteria for the professional assessment of the project monitor the overall contribution of the investment project to the improvement of the availability of institutional health care based on the hospital’s development plan, the economic assessment of the planned investment and the time feasibility of the project in view of the fulfillment of the milestones from the recovery and resilience plan,” the presenter explained. Updated 10:32 The measures should be divided into three parts. “Solutions for households, for entrepreneurs and solutions that will help everyone,” he said. At the same time, the ministry presented a proposal for capping electricity and gas prices in the event of an emergency. This can be declared not only when energy is in short supply, but also when it is excessively expensive. Photo gallery (6) Source: Topky – Ján Zemiar Updated 10:30 a.m. The Ministry of Economy presented a set of measures to combat the energy crisis. This applies to both households and entrepreneurs. “A meeting of all departments involved was held on Wednesday. Unfortunately, the only ministry that did not come is the Ministry of Finance,” said Galek. Updated 10:15 Krajniak on the crisis in the coalition We are a family prefers that SaS and OĽaNO somehow come to an agreement. “When they agree or do not agree, we will say what we think are our priorities, which the government must address immediately. In addition to the usual inflationary aid, it is definitely capping energy prices and executive amnesty,” said Krajniak. “Let it end, one way or another.” Prices should be capped for both companies and households. Updated 10:11 a.m. He did not say whether the We are a family department of the economy wants. The movement is waiting for the end of the crisis and for SaS to decide. “I don’t care, politically, who will be in the Ministry of Economy,” he said. “Some colleagues say that a 50-meter tsunami is coming at us, and we are deciding whether we have good raincoats and umbrellas.” Photo gallery (6) Source: Topky – Ján Zemiar Updated 10:10 “We need to know how to cap energy prices, not how to provide a few euros of compensation. How we will survive this winter compared to other states also depends on this,” he said. “We are running into problems, that is a priority that needs to be addressed. I am sorry that some colleagues spent the summer solving political issues,” he added. Updated 10:07 According to Krjaniak, the issue is not whether the solutions will pass, but whether they are sufficient. “I think what we’ve had on the table so far is like putting on paralen when you have pneumonia. It won’t hurt, but you can’t promise that you’ll get out of bed the next day. The colleagues should have worked it out and I believe that they finished it. It is not important whether we accept the solution today or tomorrow,” said Krajniak and reminded that in a week there will be an extraordinary negotiation at the EU level. Photo gallery (6) Source: Topky – Ján Zemiar Updated 10:05 “There is a German saying, “It’s better to end with horror than horror without end”. definitely,” said the Minister of Labor. Updated 10:00 “It doesn’t exist that for half a year we look at how a part of speculators, energy traders and banks got rich from the fact that we produce electricity in Slovakia for 20-40 euros per megawatt and then it returns to Slovakia for 500 euros and then companies and households pay it. This has to end,” said Krajniak. Government deliberations and the crisis The government also deliberated on Wednesday, when the ultimatum of the SaS party expired. Even before the negotiations, however, Prime Minister Eduard Heger stood in front of the desk together with the ministers for OĽaNO and presented ten conditions that, if SaS agrees, Igor Matovič will accept Richard Sulík’s offer and they will go to the parliament together. Sulík submitted his resignation, according to him, he fulfilled one of Matovič’s conditions, and the SaS party is willing to negotiate with the conditions only when Matovič resigns. Matovič is willing to leave only when SaS approves ten conditions. “SaS is the same threat to Slovak democracy and democratic principles as the Smer party,” Matovič declared when journalists repeatedly asked him whether there was a chance that he would comply with Sulík’s party and submit his resignation by Monday. For now, it still doesn’t look like saving the coalition of four. Especially when most of the points presented by OĽaNO were the reason why SaS left the coalition in the first place.