NEWS

Prime Minister Pahor convenes 3rd session of the Strategic Council for Energy

The Slovenian Prime Minister, Borut Pahor, today chaired the 3rd session of the Strategic Council for Energy, where the Council members and other official guests exchanged proposals and opinions regarding the merger of the energy pillars. Mr Pahor and the Minister of the Economy, Darja Radić, informed the Council members of the plans on the merger of the Holding of Slovenian Power Plants (HSE) and the company Gen Energija. The Government will discuss this proposal at tomorrow's session; however, it will not yet take any decisions.

 

(Photo: Stanko Gruden/SPA)

 

At the press conference following the session, Mr Pahor said that he supports the minister in her plans regarding the merger of both energy pillars, but does not want this "to be implemented in haste". He would like to place the relevant decision into a wider context and invite experts and the public at large to take part in the decision-making process. Prime Minister Pahor further said that he sees the Slovenian energy sector as the backbone of the future Slovenian capacity to compete. "In my view, the issue of a single energy pillar is rather a question of the method of how to achieve this, and not so much an objective in itself," pointed out Mr Pahor. He went on to say that so far, the two pillars have provided for a lower price of electricity, "and I would not like to do without this advantage". Minister Radić assessed today's discussion as very constructive and useful, while providing prospects that the Government is on the right path and that synergies in the merger of both pillars are possible. She went on to express her wish that an integrated organisation of the Slovenian energy sector would attract the best experts in this field and top managers. This would facilitate decision-making on future priority investments. "The entire organisation would then be left to experts who would create the energy policy in this institution," emphasised the Minister of the Economy at the close of the press conference.