SUMMARY - Tuesday, February 15, 2022 - 5 p.m.

BRATISLAVA - The Slovak Constitution will not change in the area of a referendum on shortening an electoral term, as MPs voted not to advance a draft amendment to that effect sponsored by Milos Svrcek (We Are Family) to its second reading on Tuesday. BRATISLAVA - The Special Prosecutor's Office has pressed charges in the Toll Collector case against six people over five corruption-related crimes, TASR learnt from a post on the Special Prosecutor's Office's social network on Tuesday. BRATISLAVA - The Government will stand firm, it will not shy away and won't be afraid if some people try to pull Slovakia out of the European Union (EU) or NATO, said Premier Eduard Heger (OLaNO) in a speech at the 20th annual conference to assess Slovakia's foreign and European policy in 2021. BRATISLAVA - It would be a delusion to think that Slovak foreign policy can be successful if it's not anchored in clear support at home and that's what we're losing and must vie to restore again, President Zuzana Caputova declared in her speech at the Foreign and European Policy Evaluating Conference held at the foreign ministry on Tuesday. BRATISLAVA - The Public Health Office (UVZ) is to cancel as of Wednesday (February 16) mandatory quarantine for people entering Slovakia from a neighbouring country in which immediately before their arrival they were exposed to a threat during a national or international armed conflict, TASR learnt from UVZ spokeswoman Dasa Rackova on Tuesday. BRATISLAVA - The omicron variant of the novel coronavirus was absolutely dominant in Slovakia in the first two weeks of February, detected in 90 percent of sequenced samples, the Public Health Authority reported on Tuesday. BRATISLAVA - Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) MPs are filing a criminal complaint over recent public threats to MPs who supported the Defence Cooperation Agreement (DCA) with the USA in Parliament, SaS MP Jan Bencik reported on Tuesday. BRATISLAVA - Interior Minister Roman Mikulec (OLaNO) strongly rejects any accusations of him controlling any investigation by either the Police Corps or the Internal Affairs Inspectorate and declared that he has never interfered with activities of investigators, who are self-sufficient and have their hands fully untied. BRATISLAVA - A commemorative event in honour of late ex-foreign affairs minister, MP and MEP Eduard Kukan, who died last week at the age of 82, will be held on Wednesday at 4 p.m. in the Palugyay Palace in Bratislava, TASR has learnt from the Foreign Affairs Ministry. BRATISLAVA - President Zuzana Caputova on Tuesday received Prime Minister Eduard Heger (OLaNO) and House Chair Boris Kollar (We Are Family) in the Presidential Palace, with the top three state officials discussing the current international situation in connection with the crisis in Ukraine and its impacts on Slovakia, TASR has learnt from the president's spokesman Martin Strizinec. BRATISLAVA - Slovakia's gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 1.4 percent year-on-year (y-o-y) in the final quarter of 2021, the Statistics Office reported in its preliminary GDP estimate published on Tuesday. BRATISLAVA - Vice-premier and Finance Minister Igor Matovic (OLaNO) would like to expand the powers of the Crisis Management Council, according to the draft amendment to the law on resolving crisis situations in the financial market, which the minister submitted to the Government for its session to be held on Wednesday (February 16). am