MORNING NEWS HIGHLIGHTS - Saturday, May 31, 2025 - 9 a.m.

TASR brings a quick morning overview of the most important events seen in Slovakia on the previous day (Friday, May 30): BRATISLAVA - The opposition's Progressive Slovakia (PS) party criticized the work of the Ministry of Tourism and Sport on Friday, underlining that the ministry is wasting money without a vision or even a basic idea of what it wants to achieve. Its subordinate organization Slovakia Travel also caught flak, for example, over Slovakia's exposition at the world exhibition Expo Osaka. „When the political sinecure in the form of the Ministry of Tourism and Sport was created, we heard a lot about the need to systematically develop tourism and sport in Slovakia," said MP Richard Dubovicky (PS). „To this day, a basic strategic document is missing — such as a tourism development concept for Slovakia — which should define the framework for investment, support, and long-term growth of this sector." According to Dubovicky, the national tourism promotion organization Slovakia Travel is not fulfilling its mission. He pointed to data from the Statistics Office, which reported on Friday that just over 130,000 foreign tourists came to Slovakia last year through Slovak travel agencies and tour operators. Active tourism thus saw a sharp drop in visitor numbers — down by one-third year-on-year, and by as much as 61 percent compared to 2019, Dubovicky stated. One of the reasons for the decline, he said, is rising prices caused by the introduction of a transaction tax and an increase in VAT, both of which raise costs in the tourism sector and for travel agencies. „Small entrepreneurs, employees, and vacationers are the ones who suffer most," he added. PS also specifically addressed Slovakia’s pavilion at Expo Osaka. According to the progressives, the Expo so far is associated with excessive costs and a lack of transparency. They criticized that Slovakia’s exhibition space is in a shared pavilion with countries like Panama and Uruguay, with an area of only 68 square meters— 30 times smaller than Slovakia’s pavilion at the previous Expo in Dubai. They also pointed out to a ruling by the Public Procurement Office, which stated that Slovakia Travel acted unlawfully by canceling a tender for certain services without valid justification. At a press conference on Friday, Tourism Minister Huliak announced that Slovakia Travel will be investigated by the Supreme Audit Authority (NKU) over the Expo in Osaka. Slovakia Travel’s current management has previously stated that it does not shirk responsibility for the funding process related to the Osaka pavilion, but noted that the public procurement process was conducted last year under the previous leadership of both the ministry and the organization. „The same goes for the contract amendment that was the subject of media attention — it was signed this year, but still by the former management," emphasized Slovakia Travel spokesperson Zuzana Eliasova in early May. „After being briefed on the current findings, the Minister of Tourism and Sport initiated changes in the leadership," she added. BRATISLAVA - The organization Slovakia Travel will be subject to investigation by the Supreme Audit Authority (NKU) regarding the Expo exhibition in Osaka, Tourism and Sport Minister Rudolf Huliak (independent) announced after a meeting with Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) on Friday. „On the second day after I took office at the ministry, I summoned the director of Slovakia Travel and received a detailed report on all forms of public procurement and the entire infrastructure related to Osaka," he said. „The originally planned €10.5 million, which was allocated for this purpose based on the size of the pavilion and the service it was supposed to offer in representing Slovakia in tourism and other areas, seemed questionable to me," he stated. As a result, the NKU will now investigate Slovakia Travel. „We had the entire legal audit checked in terms of procurement, and today we already have the results. We will probably face a fine of over €200,000 from the authority responsible for public procurement. We will definitely pursue criminal consequences as well, due to the failed procurement process, which had to switch to direct awarding because of time constraints," he clarified. „However, I want to assure the public that the costs have been reduced from the original €10.5 million to €4 million, and all matters related to Slovakia’s representation will now be procured and managed with the utmost focus on saving public funds. I will do everything possible to cut the original budget as much as possible," he declared. According to Huliak, most of the funds were spent on the pavilion, which he said cost €2.5 million. „All these matters are still under investigation and will certainly be looked into by law enforcement authorities," he added. He also noted that the Slovak pavilion does not represent the country abroad as it should. „If it were up to me, Osaka wouldn’t be happening. If we consider the funds used, which could have been directed toward exhibitions in neighboring countries in terms of tourism promotion, we would have achieved a much greater impact and influx of tourists than somewhere in Japan," the minister concluded. BRATISLAVA - The coalition Slovak National Party (SNS) welcomes the decision by the Special Criminal Court to acquit former justice minister (2006-09) and former chair of the Supreme Court and Judicial Council Stefan H. [name abbreviated due to legal reasons] of charges related to his public approval of Russia's aggression in Ukraine. The party claimed that the case revealed ineffectiveness and contradictions in criminal proceedings. Therefore, it is calling for a reform of criminal law "Friday’s decision should be an example from which Justice Minister Boris Susko (Smer-SD) in particular should learn. I'll also discuss it with Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD). I often see endless press conferences about how the law-enforcement authorities act in an ineffective manner and interfere in people's lives. But I'm asking out loud: if Stefan H. didn't have such legal awareness and was an ordinary person, how might his life have turned out?" he remarked. The SNS leader believes that cases like Stefan H.’s should be resolved at the pre-trial stage. "A large number of police officers, prosecutors and judges focused on Stefan H. instead of prosecuting actual criminals," he said. He pointed to the financial impacts of the criminal proceedings and the damage to Stefan H.'s reputation, wondering who will pay compensation in this case. The SNS leader also underlined that the decision is not yet final and called on prosecutors to drop the case. In addition, Danko touched on damage to reputation in connection with the media. He believes that this area needs to be addressed as well and announced that SNS MPs will submit a proposal at the September parliamentary session to transform the Council for Media Services into a National Media Authority. He recalled that a draft amendment to the Act on Publishers of Publications, which aims to reintroduce the right of reply, is currently in Parliament due to SNS and voiced his hope that lawmakers will approve it. The Specialised Criminal Court acquitted Stefan H. of charges in the case concerning the defendant's public approval of Russia's aggression in Ukraine. According to judge Jan Buvala, the act in question is not a criminal offence. The indictment was filed for the offence of defamation of a nation, race and belief, and for the offence of approving of a criminal act. The court's decision is not yet final, as the prosecutor has announced an appeal. BRATISLAVA - The Prosecutors Council of the Regional Prosecutor's Office in Bratislava is calling for restraint when evaluating decisions and procedures of prosecutors, emphasising that the legal system provides the procedural tools to seek changes in decisions or the procedures taken by prosecutors, its chair Peter Pilar declared on Friday. Pilar spoke in response to statements by prime minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) regarding the withdrawal of charges against Peter L. [name abbreviated due to legal reasons], a.k.a. 'the shepherd's axe man'. "The Prosecutors Council generally considers a public debate on the decisions and procedures of prosecutors to be a legitimate part of public affairs management in society, but it underlines that any criticism should be conducted objectively, without personal attacks on individual prosecutors and with respect for their decision-making activities," the council emphasised. According to the council, the disregard shown to such an approach by representatives of other public authorities has a negative impact on public trust in institutions and their decisions. The decision of a prosecutor from the Bratislava District Prosecutor's Office to drop the charges against shepherd's axe man, who was allegedly threatening the prime minister in a video, was evaluated by Fico on Thursday (May 29) as a decision influenced by the political preference of the prosecutor for the current opposition. According to Fico, the argument about freedom of speech in relation to the statements on the video is extremely dangerous, and the prosecutor's decision could motivate further hate-fuelled attacks. In this context, he called on Prosecutor-General Maros Zilinka to "restore order in the prosecution service". The man with the shepherd's axe was mentioned on May 15 by members of the Smer-SD party, who linked him to the non-parliamentary 'Democrats' party. Representatives of that party described the statements and interpretations of Smer members as gross misinformation and manipulative propaganda. In mid-May, the police pressed charges against the shepherd's axe man, as reported on social media by Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok (Voice-SD), who added that another person had been charged for the same offence. The police clarified that the accused are 47-year-old P.L. and 65-year-old P.P. A prosecutor of Bratislava I District Prosecutor’s Office later dropped the charges of incitement against P.L., evaluating them as unlawful. PEZINOK - A judge of the Specialised Criminal Court (STS) in Pezinok (Bratislava region) has acquitted Supreme Court ex-president and former justice minister Stefan H. (name abbreviated due to legal reasons) of charges related to endorsing Russia's aggression in Ukraine, which included the offences of defaming a nation, race and belief, and approving of a criminal offence. The court's decision isn't yet final. Stefan H. had maintained his innocence from the beginning of the trial. According to his legal representative Jan Foltan, the indictment is politically motivated. At the main hearing in April, he emphasised that the defined act doesn't indicate that his client defamed the Ukrainian nation. A prosecutor from the former Special Prosecutor's Office filed the indictment in June 2023. The case concerns a statement made by Stefan H. shortly after the start of Russia's aggression against Ukraine. According to the indictment, Stefan H. wrote on social media that he would have done the same as Russian President Vladimir Putin, referring to the pacification of the Nazis. mf