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Jahnatek: Oil Pipeline Line to Austria Has Been Politicised
Tuesday 29 December 2009 Zoom in | Print page
Bratislava, December 29 (TASR) - Economy Minister Lubomir Jahnatek, contemplating the alternatives to importing crude oil through Ukraine from Russia after disputes between the two over the terms for oil and natural gas transit to Europe nearly triggered another energy crisis, said that this topic has been politicised instead of allowing itself to be guided by technical opinions.
Jahnatek was referring to the controversy over one of the planned alternative routes via Zitny Ostrov, an area populated by a Hungarian minority with ecological concerns whose political parties strongly oppose the idea.
Most-Hid deputy chairman Zsolt Simon on December 17, 2009 said that the Government has chosen Zitny Ostrov as the only planned route for the pipeline and has been preparing for it throughout this year. "The protection of own drinking-water resources is a higher public interest for Slovakia than the planned building of a oil pipeline," he said.
Minister Jahnatek claimed that a route will be selected based on the opinion of experts who are competent enough to pronounce on individual technical aspects as well as the economic impacts and so on.
"Unfortunately we're ahead of elections and the opposition political parties are latching on to this theme. This is a good topic to use in the pre-election period as a political weapon," he said.
The economy minister thinks that politicians commenting on the pipeline lack enough knowledge to make a competent statement on the link. "What irritates me about the opinion of certain opposition politicians, especially the Hungarian nationality, is that they don't mind the fact that the large Slovnaft refinery is located on Zitny Ostrov," he said. "I can understand that ecologists are concerned over linking a pipeline through Zitny Ostrov, but I reject tawdry suggestions floated by Zsolt Simon-type politicians or other political parties," he said.
Furthermore, said Jahnatek, these politicians don't mind the fact that there are tens of kilometres of oil and gas lines buried in Zitny Ostrov already, having been laid there 60 years ago with completely different technology and knowledge vis-a-vis laying underground pipes.
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