Monitor: Fico: Gov't Must Address Food and Energy Prices in 2025

(TA3, 'V politike', October 20) Food prices are an issue that merit the attention from me as the Prime Minister and it's necessary to find ways together with food producers and retails to have the upcoming cuts in the VAT tax on essential foodstuffs from 10 percent to 5 percent translate also into lower prices, Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) declared on TA3's discussion programme 'V politike' (In Politics) on Sunday. Fico called the existing talks with involved parties constructive, with more talks to come. He would prefer to arrive at a deal, but if that doesn't happen, he underlined that the state has many tools in its disposal to enforce its will. "Unlike in the past, the state today possesses information. We know what the inputs of food producers are, at what prices they sell products to a retail chain and know how much does the product cost on the shelf. Based on that, some decision can be taken," warned Fico and added that he values a dialogue, so he wouldn't specify any potential measures at this stage. "But I refuse to accept that slashing VAT from 10 percent to 5 percent on essential foods would be for naught. Then we didn't need to do it at all. We did it because we want to stabilise the prices at least a little bit in the range of foods important to people," explained the Prime Minister. Another important issue in 2025 will be energy prices, which the Government plans to keep an eye on. "We're holding very tough talks at all levels. I believe it would be rather inappropriate to just sit back, twiddle our thumbs and do nothing," accentuated Fico. He didn't specify any details of the energy aid. "There are more variants. The parameters we need to identify are relatively many." Fico emphasized that there's a general consensus on the need to consolidate public finances, but not on specific ways how to do it. "We set up this structure of consolidation and we stand behind it." mf