MORNING NEWS HIGHLIGHTS - Thursday, May 15, 2025 - 9 a.m.

TASR brings a quick morning overview of the most important events seen in Slovakia on the previous day (Wednesday, May 14): BRATISLAVA - Leader of the opposition and MP Michal Simecka (Progressive Slovakia/PS) believes that it's Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) who spreads the most hatred and is causing polarisation in society, and Simecka has conveyed this to Fico in an open letter as well, TASR learnt on Wednesday. In the letter, Simecka called on the prime minister to step down from his post, as he believes that Fico is not concerned with Slovakia, but only with himself. In addition, Simecka voiced regret that instead of defusing polarisation after the assassination attempt on him last year, the prime minister decided to pour even more oil on the fire instead. "Allow me to express regret over what happened a year ago in Handlova. I condemned this unprecedented and heinous act immediately after it happened ... I understand that you went through a huge amount of trauma connected with fear for your own life. A normal person would definitely seek professional help, which is entirely appropriate in the case of such a borderline incident. A normal person would also do everything to contribute to a change in the social atmosphere after such a terrible act, calming passions and hatred. Unfortunately, you've chosen the opposite path. Instead of reducing polarisation and changing your rhetoric, you decided to pour even more oil on the fire. You threw away the chance for social reconciliation, you trampled it into the ground," Simecka told Fico. BRATISLAVA - A year after the assassination attempt on Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD), society has not calmed down but has perhaps become even more polarised, House Chair Richard Rasi (Voice-SD) has told TASR, adding that the opposition bears much of the responsibility and warning that a similar incident could happen again. "I feel that over the past year, society hasn't calmed down, if anything, it may have become even more polarised. I'm a politician, and I'll share my political perspective. Unfortunately, the opposition bears a significant share of the responsibility, because questioning democratic elections and constantly stirring up people doesn't bring peace to society. Everyone should examine their own conscience, but the truth is, that a calming of tensions simply hasn't happened," he told TASR. Rasi described the assassination attempt on the premier as an unprecedented event and tragedy. "It's high time that we woke up and calmed down, that we respected what the people wanted, because the government didn't fall from the sky, it was formed based on a democratic election, and we should act accordingly," he added. BRATISLAVA - The allegations in the article on mRNA vaccines against COVID, co-authored by Government Proxy for Investigating COVID-19 Pandemic Management Peter Kotlar, are unsubstantiated, the Institute of Chemistry of the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAV) has posted on social media, citing expert sources and the opinions of regulatory agencies. The institute pointed out that the study was published in a predatory journal. "These types of journals masquerade as scientific but don't provide a proper peer-review process, transparency or ethical standards," said the institute, explaining that the journal was placed on a list of open-access publishers that don't conduct a genuine peer-review process and would publish any article as long as the authors paid a processing fee. The SAV Institute of Chemistry also pointed out that the authors of the article are not vaccine experts and that several of them are known for their anti-vaccine stances and political backgrounds. According to the institute, this raises doubts about impartiality. They also question the transparency of the study, explaining that the authors didn't provide sufficient information on the methods used, the laboratory conditions or the validation of their results. BRATISLAVA - The period during which a parent takes care of a child while on maternity or parental leave should be counted toward their pension, Labour Minister Erik Tomas (Voice-SD) announced at a press conference on Wednesday. Tomas added that such a change aims to eliminate discrimination, especially against senior mothers, who more often care for children and therefore receive lower pensions. The amendment to the Social Insurance Act is likely to come into effect as early as January of next year. "The Slovak Constitution states that raising a child should not negatively affect the level of one’s pension, and we need to fulfil this provision. Our predecessors tried to do so with the so-called parental pension, which, according to all experts, does not fully meet this goal,” said Tomas, adding that the parental pension was discriminatory toward those without children, those whose children had died and those who are disabled and unable to work. BRATISLAVA - The police are investigating an incident that took place at the Slovak Medical University in Bratislava on Tuesday (13 May) in which one person was detained for allegedly carrying an object resembling a firearm, TASR has learnt from the police's social media post. "According to the evidence gathered so far, a man was reportedly seen by a university employee walking around the premises without authorisation, visibly carrying an object resembling a firearm. When approached, he repeatedly threatened the employee and then left the scene. The university staff immediately informed the police of the incident," the police stated. The police added that officers promptly carried out necessary actions leading to the detention of a 46-year-old man at a house in Bratislava who was later admitted into a psychiatric ward. Searches of residential and non-residential premises are currently underway. BRATISLAVA - Consumer prices of goods and services rose by 0.1 percent month-on-month (m-o-m) and by 3.7 percent year-on-year (y-o-y) in April 2025, the lowest figures recorded so far this year, down from 4 percent in March and 3.8 percent in February, the Statistics Office reported on Wednesday. Prices were higher than the year before in 11 of the 12 sectors, but a slowdown in price growth in five sectors was a positive aspect. Price increases ranged from 1.9 percent in the health-care sector to 10.2 percent in education. Only goods and services in the transport sector recorded a y-o-y price decrease - of 1.6 percent. ko