MORNING NEWS HIGHLIGHTS - Sunday, April 2, 2023 - 9 a.m.

TASR brings a quick morning overview of the most important events seen in Slovakia on the previous day (Saturday, April 1): BRATISLAVA - Prime Minister Eduard Heger has joined the premiers of Poland, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary to call on European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen in an open letter to adopt measures mitigating negative impacts of increased imports of agricultural products from Ukraine on the EU market. "Russia's aggression against Ukraine has not only led to a huge increase in production costs in the agricultural sector and increased business risk, but also to problems on the agricultural markets of the European Union," the prime ministers said in their letter, adding that the biggest problems are faced by the countries neighbouring Ukraine as their imports of agricultural products have increased enormously. Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the EU created so-called solidarity corridors to ensure the export of Ukrainian products to third countries, mainly those in Africa. "The corridors address the food crisis caused by the Russian aggression. EU-member countries created transport channels for the export of Ukrainian agricultural produce to third countries within these corridors. [Ukrainian] grain, the price of which is significantly lower than [grain produced by Slovak farmers], has often remained in Slovakia. This causes problems not only for Slovak farmers, as they can't sell their grain," explained Heger. In the letter to the European Commission, Heger called for an increase in the funding of support from European sources for Slovak farmers. "One option is to buy surplus wheat from countries neighbouring Ukraine for humanitarian purposes. We call on the European Commission to find a solution together with the World Food Programme that will ensure that Ukrainian grain does not end up on European markets, but reaches places where it is needed the most, namely third countries that are in need of humanitarian aid," the prime ministers of Slovakia, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary stressed. BRATISLAVA - The use of credit cards as opposed to the more traditional debit cards has doubled in the past few years, according to data published by Home Credit Slovakia. In 2015, credit cards were used for 8.3 percent of recorded payments. In the following years the prevalence of its use grew steadily, and last year it reached 16.4 percent. BRATISLAVA - New research carried out for Greenpeace shows that private flights from Slovakia's territory have released 10,000 tonnes of CO2, the equivalent of that produced by 6,666 cars, Greenpeace Slovakia spokesperson Miroslava Abelova has informed TASR. In 2022, emissions released by private planes recorded a 64-percent increase. According to environmentalists, the number of private flights originating on Slovak territory in 2021 was 1,114, while 2022 saw a 127-percent increase to 2,528 flights. The most common route of the said flights in 2022 was between Bratislava and Prague. According to the European Business Aviation Association (EBAA), government and military flights in 2020 accounted for 1.1 percent of all flights recorded. The most frequently used airports in Slovakia were those in Bratislava, Kosice and Poprad-Tatry. The shortest route with more than ten flights per year was the one between Bratislava and Vienna. BRATISLAVA - The Statistics Office is cooperating with the Heureka price evaluation platform when it comes to research into the effects of inflation in Slovakia, the Statistics Office informed the public on Thursday. The data obtained via cooperation with the Heureka Group will allow the Statistics Office to add the quantity and character of products purchased online to its research matrix. "The data collected by Heureka Group concerning the quantities and character of purchased goods is one of the main economic indicators for creating a variety of policies," said Helena Glaser-Opitzova, general director for measurement, registration and coordination processes at the Statistics Office. The procured data will inform the Statistics Office, for example, about white and black goods, clothing and footwear, maintenance materials, furniture, sports equipment and toys. zel