Ukraine slams Slovakia on oil transit

BRUSSELS, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- Ukraine's envoy to the European Union has accused Slovakia of blocking oil trasit to refineries in the Czech Republic.

"Since the EU expansion, Ukraine has had no access to transport networks in Slovakia to pump light oil from Odessa to the oil refineries in Kralupy (the Czech Republic)," Roman Shpek, the Ukrainian envoy to the EU, said Thursday in Brussels. "This issue is discussed at the bilateral level, we have repeatedly addressed European Commission members, (but) the issue has not been settled yet."

The comments were reported by the UNIAN news agency.

Shpek blamed a lack of political will on the Slovakian side and in Brussels for a lack of progress.

Earlier this week, however, the two sides discussed closer energy cooperation and Slovakia's participation in the Odessa-Brody oil pipeline.

In a meeting between Ukrainian Fuel and Energy Minister Yuriy Boyko and Slovakian Minister of Economy Lubomir Jahnatek, they discussed increasing electricity supply to Slovakia and operating the Odessa-Brody pipeline in the European direction with Slovak participation. An understanding was reached on both issues, Boyko said.

Jahnatek said his side wanted to increase the amount of electricity it buys from Ukraine. He also said a joint working group would examine issues related to the Odessa-Brody and Druzhba pipelines.