MORNING NEWS HIGHLIGHTS - Tuesday, April 23, 2024 - 9 a.m.

TASR brings a quick morning overview of the most important events seen in Slovakia on the previous day (Monday, April 22): BRATISLAVA - The government will deal with a bill on public-broadcaster Slovak Television and Radio (STaR) at its away-from-home session in Dolna Krupa (Trnava region) on Wednesday (April 24), Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) told a news conference following his inspection day at the Culture Ministry on Monday. Culture Minister Martina Simkovicova (a Slovak National Party/SNS nominee) added that the government's Legislative Council will deal with the bill as early as on Tuesday (April 23). The premier stressed that the current Radio and Television Slovakia (RTVS) needs a change of management and a new law. He argued that the current public broadcaster is incapable of satisfying the public's right to objective information. "How can it provide objective information when it is engaged in a constant fight with the government?" he asked, adding that his cabinet is currently dealing with serious problems that it inherited from previous governments. "We want to do our job in an objective media environment, which will reprimand the government if necessary but at the same time won't ignore the positive steps it takes," stated Fico. BRATISLAVA - The Slovakia 2021-2021 programme will undergo a revision that will start by the end of this year, Investment and Regional Development Minister Richard Rasi (Voice-SD) told a news conference following the first meeting of the Government Council for Regional Development and EU Cohesion Policy on Monday, adding that the goal is to meet the requirements of regions and partners regarding the use of EU funds. "Our goal is to make any changes to EU funds and their use in line with the wishes, priorities and needs of regions, partners and people who live in them," said Rasi. The preparation of the EU fund period after 2027 was one of the points on the agenda of the talks. A discussion is currently taking place in the European Commission (EC) in connection with this. According to Rasi, Slovakia is supposed to prepare the outlines, i.e. the priorities for which EU funds will be used. "We'll do it in the course of this year, and we'll also get all the Council members who participated in today's meeting engaged in that," said Rasi. BRATISLAVA - Coalition lawmaker Rudolf Huliak (SNS) announced on Monday that the Slovak National Party will propose ex-justice minister Stefan Harabin as a candidate for the post of a Judicial Council member. This idea doesn't sit well with opposition KDH, Progressive Slovakia (PS) and SaS, which pointed to Harabin's past involvement with the judiciary. KDH vice-chair and ex-justice minister Viliam Karas finds such nomination a bad joke. "The damage that Harabin has wrought on the entire judiciary is still felt to this day. The return to that era is unacceptable," he claimed. In SaS leader Branislav Groehling's view, the return of Harabin to the Judicial Council is further evidence of ongoing rackets within the coalition and another step towards the destruction of the rule of law. In a normal state with the rule of law, Harabin's nomination would be beyond the pale. BRATISLAVA - Businessman and political marketer Fedor Flasik has died at the age of 66, his ex-wife Monika Benova confirmed for TASR on Monday. Flasik was born in Bratislava in 1958. He was mainly known as an entrepreneur engaged in the field of advertising and as director of the Donar advertising agency. He was behind the election campaigns of Vladimir Meciar's HZDS party and the Smer party, which he also co-founded. He became the chief of Smer's election team in August 2001. BRATISLAVA - Slovakia's general government deficit grew significantly over 2023 to reach slightly over €6 billion at the end of the year, thereby equalling 4.89 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), up from the 1.57 percent seen in 2022, the Statistics Office reported as part of the so-called spring notification on Monday. The country's public debt in absolute figures also increased, but it only made up 56 percent of GDP, down from the 57.7 percent posted the year before. "The absolute majority of last year's deficit was generated by the central state administration, which ended last year with a deficit of €6.38 billion. This was significantly more than in 2022, when it showed a deficit of €1.51 billion," said the office. Conversely, local government ended last year with a surplus amounting to almost €98 million, which was a much better result than the one in 2022. Social-security funds also posted a surplus, amounting to €274 million, which was three times higher than in 2022. BRATISLAVA/VODERADY/SURANY - A company called InoBat, which develops innovative batteries for electric cars, announced on Monday that it's launched battery production in Voderady (Trnava region). Slovakia has thus became the fifth European country, after Sweden, Norway, Germany and France, to gain the ability to produce certified battery cells with European know-how. At the same time, InoBat obtained all the necessary certificates and began production of the first high-performance cells for the aviation industry. "We don't only manufacture batteries, we also create and tailor them to the needs of each customer. This procedure requires extraordinary knowledge and special skills, and I'm proud that we've managed to build it in Slovakia," said InoBat general director Marian Bocek. ko