MORNING NEWS HIGHLIGHTS - Wednesday, September 27, 2023 - 9 a.m.

TASR brings a quick morning overview of the most important events seen in Slovakia on the previous day (Tuesday, September 26): BRUSSELS - The European Commission on Tuesday announced that it has received the third payment request from Slovakia for €662 million under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), which is a key tool of the Next Generation EU (NGEU) post-pandemic recovery plan. The third payment adjusted by pre-financing concerns 21 milestones and six targets. These include a collection of transformational reforms aimed at improving the legal framework to support renewable energy sources, promoting the environmentally friendly renovation of buildings, creating an industry decarbonisation scheme and overseeing more effective application of existing nature protection rules. BRATISLAVA - If the parliamentary election had been held in September 22-26, Smer-SD would have won on 18 percent of votes, followed by Progressive Slovakia on 16.6 percent and Voice-SD on 13.7 percent, according to polls conducted by Focus agency on behalf of TV Markiza. Also making it to Parliament would have been the coalition of OLANO-For the People-Christian Union (8.2 percent), far-right Republic (7.7 percent), KDH (6.5 percent), SNS (6.4 percent) and SaS (5.8 percent). Among the parties that would have failed to surpass the required 5-percent threshold for Parliament would have been We Are Family (4.1 percent), Democrats (4 percent), Alliance (3.5 percent) and far-right LSNS (1.7), while the remaining parties would have garnered less than 1 percent. Smer-SD would have garnered 33 MP seats, Progressive Slovakia 30, Voice-SD 25, the coalition of OLANO-For the People-Christian Union 15, Republic 14, KDH 12, SNS 11 and SaS 9. BRATISLAVA - If the parliamentary election had been held on September 21-24, Progressive Slovakia would have won on 19.7 percent of votes, followed by Smer-SD on 19.4 percent and Voice-SD on 10.5 percent, according to polls conducted by NMS Market Research Slovakia agency on behalf of the SME daily. Also making it to Parliament would have been the coalition of OLANO-For the People-Christian Union (9.5 percent), far-right Republic (8.5 percent), SaS (5.7 percent), SNS and KDH (both 5.4 percent) and We Are Family (5.2 percent). Among parties failing to surpass the required 5-percent threshold for Parliament would have been Alliance (3.1 percent), Democrats (2.3 percent), far-right LSNS (1.8 percent), Blues, Most-Hid (1.1 percent), whereas the remaining parties would have garnered less than one percent each. PS and Smer-SD would have acquired 33 MP seats each, Voice-SD 18 seats, OLANO coalition 16, Republic 14, and KDH, We're Family, SNS and SaS 9 each. BRATISLAVA - A prosecutor of the Bratislava Region Prosecutor's Office has filed an indictment against former Police Corps president Peter K. [name abbreviated due to legal reasons], prosecutor's office spokesman Patrik Hujsa confirmed for TASR on Tuesday. "A prosecutor of the Bratislava Regional Prosecutor's Office on September 25 filed an indictment with Bratislava I Municipal Court against Peter K. for the crime of misusing a public official's powers in conjunction with the crime of obstructing justice," said Hujsa. The police ex-president was charged with misusing his powers and obstructing justice in August 2021. He is suspected of obstructing the arrest of and pursuit of all subsequent criminal proceedings against charged individuals Matej Z. and Peter P. The ex-police chief rejected the charges and filed a complaint against them, along with a complaint against the alleged bias of all the prosecutors at Bratislava Region Prosecutor's Office. Peter K. was tasked with managing the Police Corps on a temporary basis as of September 2020. Following a public contest for the post, then interior Minister Roman Mikulec appointed him to the post of Police Corps president in late January 2021. He stepped down from the post as of September 15, 2021. BRATISLAVA - Former police chief Peter K. [name abbreviated due to legal reasons] finds a criminal lawsuit against him to be purpose-built, TASR learnt on Tuesday. Peter K. spoke in response to the indictment filed against him by a prosecutor of the Bratislava Regional Prosecutor's Office. "I'm being prosecuted unjustifiably for nothing else but the fact that as the president of the Police Corps I didn't allow the misuse of a strike unit subordinated exclusively to me, which was demonstrably deployed in the breach of the law," said Peter K. He added that, on the contrary, there's a reasonable suspicion that it was the activity of the internal affairs Arc team instead that constituted the misuse of a public official's powers. According to Peter K., the evidence confirms unequivocally that the deed with which he's being indicted wasn't a crime and that the whole prosecution is purpose-built. He cast doubt over the unbiased character of the investigation, led by the Bratislava Regional Prosecutor's Office. zel