Fiala: We Are Ready To Increase State Control In Energy Sector

Comments from Czechia Prime Minister Petr Fiala hitting wires restating that his government is "...ready to increase state control in energy sector," per Reuters.

• Fiala: "Restructuring of energy sector to be decided this year."
• Fiala told news agency CTK in January that some steps to exert additional control over the 70% state-owned electricity producer CEZ, may "already be visible this year" but declined to elaborate, citing CTK's publicly traded status.
• Fiala gave a televised address to the nation in July declaring that his ambition that Czechia become an "energy sovereign" state within five years.
• Politico: "It remains unclear how exactly this will be achieved in the next five years, however. Nuclear power is key to [Czechia]’s carbon-free future, but nuclear production won’t increase significantly before the mid-2030s. And while Fiala made much of ramped-up solar developments, renewables won’t cut out dependency on Russia in the short term either — the vast majority of the Czech Republic’s imported Russian gas is used for heating, not electricity generation."