On Tuesday, 31 March 2026, the ninth joint meeting of the governments of the Czech and Slovak Republic took place at the Nová Horka Castle in Studénka. The Cabinets, headed by Prime Ministers Andrej Babiš and Robert Fico, discussed, among other things, the current situation with fuel prices and oil supplies following the outbreak of the conflict in the Middle East. The Prime Ministers of both countries also signed a Memorandum on Enhanced Cooperation between the Government of the Czech Republic and the Government of the Slovak Republic, which strengthens their partnership in key areas.
In his opening remarks, Prime Minister Andrej Babiš stressed the importance of these meetings. „I am very happy that we could meet the complete Czech government and the complete Slovak government after three years. I have to say that we had to limit the speeches of individual ministers because there were so many topics. We have a lot to help each other and to solve,“ he stated. „It was a great meeting, factual, no formalities. We have a lot to say to each other because we are simply the biggest business partners, our companies invest in Slovakia, Slovak companies invest in the Czech Republic. I am glad that we could solve things together for the benefit of the everyday life of our citizens.“ Prime Minister Babiš described the meeting.
One of the main topics was the current energy crisis. „I think that the solution lies in the area of the V4 countries, Austria and Germany. We have to keep fighting to convince Germany in particular that it is better to cap the ETS1 allowance prices of the whole European industry than to subsidise the industry.“ said Prime Minister Babiš.
According to the Czech Prime Minister, high energy prices are a problem for the entire region, and since cooperation between the Visegrad Four countries is not working at the moment, each country is trying to solve the fuel problem individually. „Of course, we want the Bratislava and Hungarian MOL refineries to produce at 100%. This is important for the whole region. I have asked Prime Minister Fico to ask Slovakia to end the oil emergency, because of course we are also affected by it.“ said Prime Minister Babiš.
After the meeting, the Prime Ministers of the Slovak Republic and the Czech Republic signed a Memorandum on Enhanced Cooperation between the Government of the Czech Republic and the Government of the Slovak Republic, which opens a new stage of the strategic partnership between the two countries. The document confirms the joint commitment to develop cooperation in key areas ranging from foreign and security policy to the economy, energy, transport and defence to education, culture, health and the environment. The Memorandum builds on the historical proximity of the two nations and reflects the ambition to jointly strengthen stability, prosperity and security in the Central European region.
The two Prime Ministers also signed a Memorandum of Understanding and Cooperation in the field of peaceful uses of nuclear energy, and First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry and Trade Karel Havlicek and Slovak Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Denisa Saková also signed an Agreement between the Ministry of Industry of the Czech Republic and the Ministry of Economy of the Slovak Republic on shared responsibility for gas storage in the gas storage facilities in Dolní Bojanovice.
The joint meeting of the Czech and Slovak governments took place for the ninth time. The first joint meeting of the Czech and Slovak governments took place in 2012 in Uherské Hradiště as an expression of the above-standard relations between the two countries. Eight joint meetings have been held so far, most recently in Trenčín in 2023.
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