The smelter has turned into a central topic for Fico in his attacks on EU environmental regulations, which he says have increased expenses and harmed competitiveness for certain sectors. In the EU, energy-heavy sectors such as fertilizers, chemicals, and steel have encountered comparable challenges. Fico stated that Slovakia has been urging the European Commission to take action, and while the commission acknowledges the problem, it has not delivered specific plans to assist the country in a restart that is as complex as bringing Slovalco's Ziar nad Hronom facility back online for primary aluminum production.
"Let this story about Slovalco be a textbook example of what overly ambitious climate goals are doing to the Slovak industry," Fico said. He also said that "Slovalco has the potential to restore a meaningful share of EU's domestic primary aluminum production," adding it had been "severely tested because of high energy prices."
The restart of Slovalco marks a significant reversal for European aluminum production. When the smelter shut down in 2022, it removed a substantial portion of the EU's domestic primary aluminum capacity, forcing European manufacturers to rely more heavily on imports from the Middle East and other regions. The plant's return is expected to ease some of that supply pressure, though the full ramp-up to prior output levels will take months after the furnaces are lit.
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