MORNING NEWS HIGHLIGHTS - Tuesday, April 16, 2024 - 9 a.m.

TASR brings a quick morning overview of the most important events seen in Slovakia on the previous day (Monday, April 15): BRATISLAVA - Headline year-on-year (y-o-y) inflation declined from 3.4 percent in February to 2.3 percent in March, the lowest figure seen since the beginning of the summer of 2021, the Statistics Office reported on Monday. In monthly terms, consumer prices in Slovakia grew by 0.1 percent from February. Consumer prices were higher than the year before in all the 12 monitored categories. The headline inflation was chiefly fuelled by increases in the prices of three segments of the consumer basket: transport, alcohol and tobacco and furniture and home furnishings. Double-digit growth persisted in education. Conversely, the most significant dampening effect on monthly inflation was produced by the prices of two most significant segments in terms of share: food and non-alcoholic beverages and housing including energies. BRATISLAVA - The government should deal with the issue of construction of a new military hospital in Presov at its session on Wednesday (April 17), Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) told a news conference following an inspection day at the Health Ministry on Monday. "Health Minister Zuzana Dolinkova (Voice-SD) will submit a material where we free hands to the defence minister so that he can start taking all necessary measures related to the construction of a new military medical complex as of Wednesday, if approved by the Cabinet," announced Fico. At the same time, Dolinkova believes that the government will made a decision on a new national university hospital in Bratislava by the end of this month. "I would like to present this concept to the government maybe in a week or two as well," said the minister. BRATISLAVA - Richard Rasi will be Voice-SD party's nominee for the post of parliamentary chair, Labour Minister and party vice-chairman Erik Tomas said in a discussion show on Radio Expres on Monday. Tomas insists that the post still belongs to Voice-SD after party leader and former House chair Peter Pellegrini was elected as the president. "We'll demand that the coalition agreement be respected. If there's to be any trust between the partners, it should be based on the coalition agreement and the Government Manifesto," stressed Tomas, adding that the election of Pellegrini as president didn't change the number of MPs and the political map. He noted that Voice-SD vice-chairwoman Denisa Sakova had decided to continue her work as economy minister. He didn't say who will replace Rasi as investment minister. BRATISLAVA - Several members of the Judicial Council have filed a motion to dismiss Jan Mazak as council head, arguing that he has grossly misused his post by unlawfully collecting information against judges. "Jan Mazak 'appropriated' the powers of the Judicial Council as a collective body, misusing its search section as his private detective service, which collected information on selected judges based on his unlawful instructions," claim the motion submitters. The motion was backed by Marcela Kosova, Peter Samko, Ayse Pruzinec Eren, Dana Jelinkova Dudzikova, Marian Fecik, Ludmila Joanidisova and Martin Bezak. Should Mazak be dismissed, he wouldn't automatically lose his post of Judicial Council member. Mazak also faced the motion to dismiss him from the helm of the Judicial Council in late 2023. Nine council member at that time voted for the proposal, which was not enough to dismiss him. Three council members refrained from voting and three were against. BRATISLAVA - The Government currently holds only technical consultations with the European Commission on the Recovery Plan and the Penal Code amendments, Prime Minister Robert Fico stated at a press conference on Monday. According to Vice-premier for Recovery Plan and EU Funds Peter Kmec (Voice-SD), the European Commission hasn't stated that the scrapping of the Special Prosecutor's Office (USP) could thwart any stages of the Recovery Plan. "The communication with the European Commission on the rule of law has reached an absolutely technical level. We're now answering technical problems and addressing the Penal Code, the effects of which have been suspended [by the Constitutional Court-ed.note]," stated the Prime Minister. Fico asked the opposition Progressive Slovakia (PS) to stop endangering Slovakia's drawing of EU funds with its statements in the European Parliament. Kmec confirmed that the questions are only of technical nature. According to him, the European Commission is no longer warning Slovakia that the scrapping of USP could thwart any stage of the Recovery Plan. "We're talking only about statistical information, how criminal files and prosecutors of USP have been assigned," he said. zel