MORNING NEWS HIGHLIGHTS - Sunday, 1 June 2025 - 9 a.m.

TASR brings a quick morning overview of the most important events seen in Slovakia on the previous day (Saturday, 31 May): BRATISLAVA - Slovaks and Czechs should create pressure for the revival of joint negotiations between the Slovak and Czech governments, Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) said at an event of the Czech Svatopluk Association in Bratislava on Saturday, adding that pressure should also be put on reviving the idea of the Visegrad Four (V4 - the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia). "I can repeat on behalf of the government, at any time, in any place in Slovakia, on any topic, the government is ready to negotiate with our partner Czech government," stated Fico, noting that there are many topics to be discussed between the countries. The premier also pointed to the V4 grouping, which is currently politically dead. According to him, the V4 format has been deliberately broken. "It is not a question of leaders not understanding each other. It was a permanent concentrated pressure from large Western countries to break up the V4 as a strong regional association," he pointed out. Fico also thinks that Slovakia and the Czech Republic should talk more about their stance on the war in Ukraine. "We are at a stage where we should make every effort to end the killing in Ukraine," he said. The prime minister also wants to know what the Czech Republic's position is on veto power in the European Union. According to Fico, it is not possible for someone to take away the right of veto from a member state. He reiterated that if there is no veto, there will be no European Union. In addition to the premier, the event was also attended by Voice-SD leader Matus Sutaj Estok and Slovak National Party (SNS) chair Andrej Danko. Sutaj Estok considers it to be a fundamental mistake from the point of view of Czech-Slovak relations that the Czech government cancelled the cabinet negotiations because of the different attitudes towards the war. "I'm convinced that any disagreements and differences belong at the negotiating table and there we must seek common solutions, to debate together and explain our positions," he said. "I believe that we'll continue this cooperation no matter who will try to break our relations, but I'm convinced that our relations won't be broken by anyone," added Danko. BRATISLAVA - President Peter Pellegrini is due to attend the Bucharest Nine (B9) summit in Vilnius on Monday (2 June), the President Office's communications department told TASR, adding that the meeting of the leaders of NATO's eastern flank countries takes place in the context of preparations for the upcoming NATO summit in The Hague. According to the President's Office, Pellegrini will make a speech at the plenary session in which he'll present Slovakia's position on NATO's strategic direction and defence investments. In addition to the B9 leaders, representatives of the Nordic allies - Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Norway and Iceland - will attend the talks at the invitation of Lithuania. "The main agenda of the discussions will be the strengthening of collective defence, NATO's adaptation to new security threats and the consolidation of the European pillar within the Alliance," said the communications department. BRATISLAVA - Slovakia had 5,415,978 inhabitants on March 31, which was 6,689 fewer than at the same time last year, according to data published by the Statistics Office on Friday. Women made up 51.08 percent of the total population. "A total of 10,342 live children were born in the first quarter of 2025, down by 1,299 from the same period of last year," stated the Statistics Office. At the same time, 14,231 people died in that period, which was 48 fewer than in the first quarter of 2024. The natural attrition of the population thus increased by 1,251 people year-on-year to 3,889 in the first quarter of this year. Meanwhile, Slovakia gained 416 inhabitants thanks to foreign migration in the first quarter of this year, with 1,407 people entering Slovakia and 991 leaving it. BRATISLAVA - Universities, the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAV), and local authorities rank among the most trusted institutions in Slovakia, it follows from a survey conducted by the Focus agency on behalf of the SAV, TASR learnt from SAV spokesperson Monika Tinakova. The survey was carried out in April on a sample of 1,020 respondents. Slovak universities ranked first in the trustworthiness chart, with 71.5 percent of respondents stating they “completely” or “rather” trust them. The SAV placed second, trusted by nearly 70 percent of those surveyed. Local authorities came in third, with 63 percent expressing trust. They are followed by the Armed Forces of the Slovak Republic (62 percent), the police (52 percent), Slovak Television and Radio (51 percent), the President of the Slovak Republic (50 percent), and trade unions (48 percent). Half of the respondents, on the other hand, expressed distrust toward state authorities. More than 50 percent distrust commercial media, non-governmental organizations, and large companies and corporations. About 63 percent of people do not trust the courts and the legal system, and Parliament faces the lowest level of trust. „In the regular 2025 trust measurement, SAV is the second most trusted among the compared institutions. A slight drop in the overall level of trust and a somewhat higher level of trust in universities in this survey may also be related to the activities of the SAV, which was often visible as a defender of scientific consensus on the topic of vaccines and the pandemic. This explanation could be supported by the parallel increase in non-respondents as well as in those who completely trust the SAV,” said Miloslav Bahna from the Sociological Institute of the SAV. am