Jørgensen Takes Energy Price Diplomacy to Bratislava for Visegrad Talks

Commissioner for Energy and Housing Dan Jørgensen travels to Bratislava on Monday, 19 October, for talks on high energy prices and security of supply with the energy ministers of the Visegrad Group: Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. After a bilateral meeting with Slovakia's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Denisa Saková, Jørgensen will hold thematic discussions with the V4 ministers focused on energy affordability, security of supply and the development of the EU's post-2030 energy framework. A joint press conference follows at around 11:30 CEST, with Saková joined by Czechia's Karel Havlíček, Hungary's István Kapitány and Poland's Miłosz Motyka.

The timing is not accidental. The visit lands days after European Council conclusions declared that soaring energy prices 'urgently require a coordinated European response of targeted and temporary measures', and the Visegrad capitals are among the loudest voices demanding relief for industry and households. The V4 format lets Jørgensen test how far the Commission's planned measures, from prolonging the temporary state aid framework to bundling energy demand, can travel with governments that often resist Brussels' energy orthodoxy. The post-2030 framework discussion is the quieter but bigger prize: the shape of the next decade's energy rules is being sketched now.

The afternoon belongs to the Commissioner's other hat. Jørgensen continues his Affordable Housing Tour with a visit to a housing renovation project supported by NextGenerationEU, featuring insulation works, boiler replacements and solar panel installations aimed at cutting bills for families. He will also meet 'Buildings for the Future', a group gathering key housing-sector stakeholders in Slovakia. The pairing is deliberate Commission choreography: energy poverty and housing costs are the same political wound, and Brussels wants to be seen treating both at once.

Watch the 11:30 press conference for any signal on how the V4 received the Commission's energy-price measures and whether the post-2030 framework discussion produces anything concrete. The European Broadcasting Service carries it live. Back in Brussels, the Commission is expected to table its short-term energy measures in the coming weeks, and Monday's readout will show how much Visegrad resistance, or support, it should expect.