SaS: Slovakia Loses Chance to Intervene in Slovenske Elektrarne Stake Transfer

Bratislava, December 20 (TASR) - Following the approval of an amendment proposed by MP Branislav Becik (Voice-SD), which removed the state's power to independently examine an investor and the subsequent possibility of objecting to a transfer by law, Slovakia can no longer intervene in the transfer of an ownership stake in power utility Slovenske elektrarne, opposition Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) MP Karol Galek stated on Friday. Galek was speaking following the announcement that Czech private company Energeticky a Prumyslovy Holding (EPH) will become a 66-percent stakeholder in Slovenske elektrarne. According to Galek, the transfer of property rights between the private investors concerned is in order. "But this transfer should have also been decided by the government. The ministry should have checked what kind of investor EPH actually is. We already have some experience with it, but we don't know its ownership structure in detail," said the opposition MP. SaS is prepared to inform the European Commission (EC) about this transaction for review. "What is even more interesting is that the financial group, and therefore the financial sharks from EPH, were in a hurry to speed up the process. It's only a few days since Peter Pellegrini signed this bill into law, and EPH has already come out with this announcement," the opposition MP added. lin/df