SUMMARY-Thursday-July 11, 2019 - 10 p.m.

BUDAPEST - The way in which Slovaks and Hungarians perceive the EU membership of their respective countries, i.e. with high levels of support, is what brings Slovakia and Hungary together, Slovak President Zuzana Caputova stated on Thursday after meeting her Hungarian counterpart Janos Ader. BRATISLAVA - Smer-SD chairman Robert Fico is convinced that Slovakia will wind up in a political impasse following the 2020 parliamentary election, TASR learnt on Thursday. BRATISLAVA - The Slovak National Party (SNS) appreciates the fact that President Zuzana Caputova has signed into law revised rules for political parties and the election campaign as well as a compulsory pre-school education for five-year-olds, TASR learnt from a statement issued by the junior governing party on Thursday. BRATISLAVA - The cost of an additional payment to the original contractor of the Lietavska Lucka-Visnove-Dubna Skala (Zilina region) D1-motorway stretch, an Italian-Slovak consortium, is higher than originally expected, said MP for the Opposition OLaNO party Jan Marosz at a press conference on Thursday, noting that the reason for this increase is unknown. BRATISLAVA - Neither the capital city nor Bratislava city police received any calls for assistance from the state police before Wednesday's (July 10) mass brawl between football hooligans in the Old Town, Bratislava City spokesman Peter Bubla stated on Thursday. BRATISLAVA - OLaNO's statements concerning the construction of the Lietavska Lucka-Visnove-Dubna Skala (Zilina region) D1-motorway stretch show a fundamental misunderstanding of the contracts and their addendums or concern the launch of an election campaign that doesn't respect facts and only distorts them, said National Highway Company (NDS) spokesperson Michaela Michalova in response to Thursday's press conference by the opposition OLaNO party. BRATISLAVA - The Supreme Court turned down at its closed-door session on Wednesday (July 10) the appeal by Special Prosecutor's Office (USP) prosecutor against the verdict taken by Pezinok-based Specialised Criminal Court that had acquitted the leader of far-right LSNS party Marian Kotleba of extremist charges in the case of LSNS cheques for poor people, TASR learnt from Supreme Court spokesperson Alexandra Vazanova on Thursday. BUDAPEST/BRATISLAVA - Slovak President Zuzana Caputova voiced her gratitude to representatives of local self-government for preserving traditions, language and culture of ethnic Slovaks living in Hungary during her visit to Slovakia's southern neighbour on Thursday. BRATISLAVA - The number of inhabitants in Slovakia has increased by 37 percent over the past 60 years, however, the growth rate is declining, TASR learnt from the Statistics Office on the occasion of the World Population Day on Thursday. BRATISLAVA - Auditors of Financial Administration (the tax office) conducted 7,916 tax inspections last year, which resulted in discoveries of incorrectly paid taxes in 5,469 cases (approximately 70 percent), while the proportion of shortcomings revealed in the checks has risen to 75 percent this year, Financial Administration reported on Thursday. am