Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico called for an emergency European Union summit to address soaring fuel prices, accusing the bloc of leaving member states to manage the effects of the oil crisis. He argued that governments were being forced to offset extraordinarily high fuel costs by cutting resources for pensions or healthcare, while the EU had demonstrated it could rapidly organize summits and commit hundreds of billions of euros to Ukraine. Fico said Slovakia would prepare measures to control prices and decide on them on Wednesday. His comments extend broader criticism of EU energy policy, including carbon-reduction requirements that he says increase power costs, and reflect his opposition to the West's approach to the war in Ukraine. Slovakia has at times delayed approval of EU sanctions on Russia, clashed with the bloc over rule of law and media freedom, declined to participate in a funding package for Kyiv and continued buying Russian gas. Fico has met Russian leader Vladimir Putin several times since Russia's full invasion of Ukraine in 2022. He also recently accused unnamed Western politicians within NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) of seeking war with Russia and said Slovakia should not be drawn into a conflict despite its commitments under Article 5 (NATO's mutual-defense clause).