(BRATISLAVA) - Slovakia wants to delay the closure of a nuclear reactor due at the end of this year because it would turn the country into a major energy importer, the economy ministry said on Friday.

"The ministry wants to propose (to Brussels) to postpone the closure of the nuclear block (at Jaslovske Bohunice)," economy ministry spokesman Branislav Zvara said.

Slovakia would "use all possible means" to get a delay, Zvara said.

"The situation one year ago on the oil, energy and fossil fuel markets was very different from the current situation," he explained, adding: "We want to postpone the closure by one or two years."

Brussels considers the Soviet-era reactors in the country to be unsafe and made their eventual closure a condition of Slovakia's EU membership in 2004.

The first reactor at Jaslovske Bohunice was closed down accordingly in 2006, with the second supposed to be shut by the end of this year.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico slammed the closure commitments as "absurd" Thursday.

"This was reckless decision which means that Slovakia will have to import 20 percent of its electricity needs," Fico told a conference on nuclear energy.

Analysis by specialised agencies showed the two reactors were safe and could continue in operation until 2020 or 2025, he added.

The Slovak government is now considering building a new nuclear facility at the Bohunice site either as a state project or in cooperation with private firms, with a decision expected by the end of this year.

At the same time it is impatient about bureaucratic obstacles in Brussels that it claims are holding up completion of two nuclear reactors by electricity company Slovenske Elektrarne, controlled by Italian power giant Enel.

Economy minister Lubomir Jahnatek told AFP that the country has been waiting since last December for clearance on some aspects of the project at Mochovce in the west of the country.

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