MORNING NEWS HIGHLIGHTS - Saturday, March 25, 2023 - 9 a.m.

TASR brings a quick morning overview of the most important events seen in Slovakia on the previous day (Friday, March 24): BRUSSELS - The Government will withdraw the nomination of Martin Klus for the post of an auditor at the European Court of Auditors (ECA) if he doesn't do it himself, interim Prime Minister Eduard Heger said on Friday. Heger opined that Klus should face the situation at hand and withdraw his bid. "That was my message to him this morning. I expect him to do so, and if he doesn't, the Government will withdraw the nomination, of course," stated the premier. BRATISLAVA - MP Martin Klus has asked the government to withdraw his nomination for the post of an auditor at the European Court of Auditors (ECA), TASR learnt from his post on a social network on Friday. Klus did so after interim Prime Minister Eduard Heger announced that if he doesn't do so, the nomination will be withdrawn by the government. "Mistakes are part of life and even bad experience is experience," Klus wrote in a short post, apologising to those who were negatively affected by his experience and thanked those who helped him through it. BRATISLAVA - An investigator of the National Crime Agency (NAKA) has filed a motion with a prosecutor, proposing that lawyer Adam P., who has been charged with the murder of student Daniel Tupy in 2005, should be prosecuted while in custody, Police Corps Presidium spokesman Michal Slivka told TASR on Friday. The prosecutor will decide whether the custody proposal will be submitted to a court or not. "The charged person has been detained. After completing procedural steps on Friday, a NAKA investigator submitted to the prosecutor a proposal to remand him in custody," said Slivka, adding that no other people have been arrested in connection with Tupy's murder. MOSCOW - Russia on Friday called Thursday's (March 23) transfer of four MiG-29 fighter jets from Slovakia to Ukraine a hostile act and a violation of international commitments, TASR learnt on Friday from a statement of Russia's Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation reported by Interfax agency. According to Moscow, Slovakia with this move "grossly violated" the intergovernmental agreement with Russia as of April 1997, which prohibits the sale or transfer of weapons, military equipment or know-how to third parties without the written consent of the other contracting party. "We consider this action of Slovakia to be a hostile act against the Russian Federation, aimed at destroying bilateral relations," said the Russian Federal Service. BRUSSELS - Slovakia is one of the EU's most fiscally responsible countries, claimed interim Premier Eduard Heger before the start of the second half of the two-day EU summit in Brussels on Friday. The talks on Friday are focused on developments in the eurozone, with the prime minister indicating intensive exchanges of views on economic developments and energy, economic governance, financial responsibility and the situation of European banks. According to Heger, the energy crisis now seems to be contained and gas-storage facilities sufficiently filled. The premier opined that inflation will gradually, albeit slowly, come down after the governments of EU-member states have poured money into their respective economies and companies to help them out. In Slovakia, inflation should fall from this year's 9.8 percent to 5.3 percent in 2024, and then to 2.6 percent before reaching a "normal" 2 percent. "Inflation is falling, economic growth will recover, and I'm happy that Slovakia is forecast to grow among the top seven eurozone countries this year," he remarked. BRATISLAVA - Freedom has now become a threatened value again, said President Zuzana Caputova on Friday in a speech marking the 35th anniversary of the the 1988 Candle Demonstration in Bratislava, adding that many people have voluntarily renounced this value. "Today, a hard-fought freedom, redeemed by victims, has once again become a threatened value," stated the president, adding that people are supporting regimes and politicians with authoritarian tendencies. "They are also often tempted to limit the rights of others out of fear that their own rights and freedoms might be threatened," she noted. BRUSSELS - NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg praised Slovakia's activities regarding Ukraine and the strengthening of the defences of the Alliance's eastern flank, said interim Defence Minister Jaroslav Nad following his meeting with Stoltenberg in Brussels on Friday. According to the Defence Ministry, the NATO chief highlighted Slovakia's activities in the field of defence and security, including the intensive modernisation of its armed forces. Nad informed him about Slovakia's assistance to Ukraine so far and the country's readiness to expand its ammunition production capacities in order to replenish its own stocks and provide artillery ammunition to Kiev. Nad and Stoltenberg also addressed the exchange of the US Patriot air defence system that was stationed in Slovakia until recently for the Italian SAMP/T system, which has already been deployed at the airbase in Kuchyna. am