MORNING NEWS HIGHLIGHTS - Thursday, March 28, 2024 - 9 a.m.

TASR brings a quick morning overview of the most important events seen in Slovakia on the previous day (Wednesday, March 27): BRATISLAVA/GALANTA - The key measures related to the economic and social development in the districts of Galanta and Dunajska Streda (both Trnava region) include enabling education to all children in ethnically mixed territories in their mother tongue, according to draft steps and measures to improve the social and economic situation in the given region approved by the government at its away-from-home session in Galanta. "In order to improve conditions on the labour market, the government will initiate the search for strategic investors through the Slovak Investment and Trade Development Agency and the possibilities of supporting established production plants in the districts of Galanta and Dunajska Streda," reads the government resolution. The tasks that the government passed in this regard for individual ministries include several steps aimed at improving the transport infrastructure in the districts of Galanta and Dunajska Streda. BRATISLAVA - The opposition 'Slovakia' party has called on ethnic Hungarian citizens not to let themselves be bought by the Slovak government. Along with the Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party and Christian Democrats (KDH), 'Slovakia' criticised the government for holding its away-from-home session in ethnic Hungarian towns in order to get ethnic Hungarians living in Slovakia to vote for Peter Pellegrini (Voice-DS) in the run-off round of the presidential election. "Pellegrini is buying ethnic Hungarian politicians before the election, striving to buy their voters through them. I believe that voters do recall how Smer-SD treated their community in the past and that they won't let themselves be bought," stressed 'Slovakia' leader Igor Matovic. The party pointed to the fact that until now Robert Fico (Smer-SD) and Pellegrini didn't care about ethnic Hungarian voters at all. BRATISLAVA - Ethnic Hungarian Alliance party chairman Krisztian Forro will support Parliamentary Chair and Voice-SD leader Peter Pellegrini in the run-off round of the presidential election. They announced it at a joint news conference on Wednesday afternoon. Forro ran in the first round of the presidential election, but failed to make it to the second one. BRATISLAVA - Following almost ten years of political rivalry between the president and the government, and more than three years of instability during the terms of the governments of Igor Matovic, Eduard Heger and Ludovit Odor, Slovakia doesn't need another opposition president, Parliamentary Chair and presidential candidate Peter Pellegrini (Voice-SD) has said in an interview for TASR TV. According to Pellegrini, the top three constitutional officials - president, parliamentary chair and premier - should meet on a regular basis to discuss crucial foreign and domestic political issues. It is the role of the parliamentary opposition and not the head of the state to criticise the government's policy and create a counter-balance to it, stated Pellegrini. "The president should stand above it, he should not be the president of the coalition or of the opposition," he said. Although his rival Ivan Korcok is mainly supported by the opposition parties and he, after receiving the support from the co-governing Slovak National Party (SNS), by the coalition parties, Pellegrini, if elected, wants to strive for impartial decision-making across the coalition-opposition spectrum and act towards dampening of tensions and conflicts in society. BRATISLAVA - Slovakia decided to expel a Tajik national, who has been deemed a serious security threat, to Ukraine and banned his entry to Schengen zone for the next ten years, TASR learnt from the Interior Ministry press department on Wednesday. The Tajik came to Slovakia in March 2022. According to Interpol information, Tajikistan issued an arrest warrant for the man in March 2018 over the crime of founding, orchestrating and supporting organised criminal group. Based on that, the Tajik was held in police custody in Kosice, where he filed for an asylum that was turned down by Slovakia. The Supreme Court, however, subsequently decided that the Tajik cannot be extradited to his home country and must be released from custody. The man left Slovakia shortly thereafter, but was deported back to the country by Germany on March 20, 2024. LIPTOVSKY MIKULAS - The bear, that turned up in the town of Liptovsky Mikulas (Zilina region) and injured five people was shot dead on Tuesday (March 26) evening, Environment Minister Tomas Taraba (a Slovak National Party/SNS nominee) has announced on a social network, adding that a drone with biometrics was deployed to identify him. ko