Prime Minister Robert Fico of Slovakia has posted an open letter to the social media platform X, addressed to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. In it, he is calling for a ‘realistic climate policy’ for the sake of the ‘protection of European industry’.
The letter has been co-signed by the Prime Ministers of five other EU Member States: Viktor Orbán of Hungary, Donald Tusk of Poland, Rosen Zhelyazkov of Bulgaria, Petr Fiala of Czechia, and Giorgia Meloni of Italy.
In the letter, PM Fico calls for the abandonment of the ‘ideological dogmatism’ in environmentalist policy in order to raise Europe’s competitiveness, as discussed at the last European Council meeting.
The Prime Minister also states that the EU should fully embrace technological neutrality in its climate policies because relying on a single mandated technology slows innovation and harms competition. This is especially urgent for Europe’s struggling automotive and car-parts industry.
The new proposal should also acknowledge the importance of zero-, low-carbon, and renewable fuels—including biofuels, which EU law already treats as ‘carbon neutral’—for decarbonizing transport before 2035, PM Fico continues to argue. For heavy-duty vehicles, the EU should consider adjusting Regulation 2019/1242 so manufacturers can meet CO₂ targets without facing penalties.
The Slovak Prime Minister also expresses his fear that the new law proposal on ‘greening corporate fleets’ could add extra zero-emission vehicle quotas on top of existing rules, creating overlap, red tape and higher costs—especially for small and medium-sized companies. Instead of new obligations, they argue the EU should encourage decarbonization with best practices, tax incentives, support schemes and a technologically neutral approach.
‘We can and we must pursue our climatic goal in an effective way, while not killing our competitiveness in the meanwhile since there is nothing green in an industrial desert,’ PM Fico conluced his open letter to President von der Leyen.
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