MORNING NEWS HIGHLIGHTS - Tuesday, 3 June 2025 - 9 a.m.

TASR brings a quick morning overview of the most important events seen in Slovakia on the previous day (Monday, 2 June): VILNIUS/BRATISLAVA - Slovakia doesn't intend to be a country that blocks consensus on increasing defence spending among NATO-member states, but "a major discussion still lies ahead of us," declared Slovak President Peter Pellegrini on Monday after the summit of the Bucharest Nine (B9) leaders in Vilnius, Lithuania. The Slovak president explained that, according to the proposal, NATO-member states should gradually increase their direct defence spending from the current 2 percent of GDP to 3.5 percent, while putting another 1.5 percent into so-called dual-use investments. "But, of course, the question remains: how quickly should these goals be reached? One idea currently on the table suggests that member countries could increase these expenditures by 0.2 percent each year, which would mean reaching the goal in about seven years," he clarified. However, the president stated that during the talks, Slovakia would prefer a minimum of ten years for countries to gradually reach these targets. He also called for some flexibility in meeting the objectives. BRATISLAVA - The European Parliament (EP) has no right to supervise the Slovak Republic or order us to do anything, Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) said in his press statement on Monday following his meeting with the EP’s monitoring group for democracy, the rule of law, and fundamental rights. According to Fico, receiving the delegation was a gesture of basic respect and courtesy toward the MEPs. The Prime Minister appreciated that the MEPs engaged with the topics in a factual manner. One of the subjects discussed was last week’s visit of the EP’s Budgetary Control Committee, led by Czech MEP Tomas Zdechovsky. Fico reiterated his criticism of Zdechovsky’s comments directed at the Slovak government. „We explained very clearly how we perceived and continue to perceive this provocation by the Czech MEP,” the Prime Minister remarked. Fico stated that the MEPs acknowledged that the current government has not adopted any legislative measures affecting human rights, democracy, or the rule of law. He also mentioned that the relationship between the government and the media was one of the issues discussed. BRATISLAVA - The coalition parties Smer-SD, Voice-SD, and SNS have reached an agreement on the transaction tax, and, as a result, the coalition will support the proposal, sponsored by SNS, to narrow the scope of the transaction tax at a session of Parliament on Tuesday (June 3), leaders of the tree coalition parties Robert Fico (Smer-SD), Matus Sutaj Estok (Voice-SD), and Andrej Danko (SNS) announced together on Monday. „The governing parties recognize the need to compensate for the shortfall in state budget revenues for 2025 in order to ensure a successful consolidation of public finances. Drawing inspiration from employers' suggestions to reduce the number of public holidays, the coalition parties agreed that in 2025, the public holiday on November 17 will no longer be a non-working day, although the public holiday - Day of the Struggle for Freedom and Democracy - will not be abolished," the coalition stated. The government is also open to discussing a similar measure for one additional public holiday, starting in 2026. BRATISLAVA - There are no unresolved issues between the institutions of the European Union and Slovakia in the area of penal law, Premier Robert Fico told a news conference following his meeting with Justice Minister Boris Susko (both Smer-SD) on Monday, aimed at progress in fulfilling the government manifesto. Therefore, Fico considers the issue of amendments to the Penal Code and Criminal Procedure Law to be closed. "Today, it is very correct if we say that there are no unresolved issues between the EU and Slovak institutions in the area of ​​penal law," stressed Fico, who pointed out that the Constitutional Court confirmed that the changes to penal legislation were constitutional. Therefore, he has no idea what could be the subject of Monday's meeting with the European Parliament's monitoring group, which focuses on democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights. BRATISLAVA - The Christian Democratic Movement (KDH), in agreement with other opposition parties, will initiate a special emergency session of the House Committee for Culture and Media over the transport of the bust of Cecilia Gonzaga, TASR learnt on Monday. The party announced that the session will address issues related to the transfer itself and its circumstances, as well as future plans for handling the valuable artwork. „According to experts KDH is in contact with, this is a scandal that may involve multiple violations of laws governing how rare artifacts are to be handled," said KDH chair Milan Majersky regarding the transfer of the bust, which is believed to be the work of Italian Renaissance artist Donatello. „At the same time, no one knows what will happen to Donatello's bust now," he added. The KDH leader is also convinced that the transfer of the rare bust represents yet another failure by the current leadership of the Culture Ministry, headed by Martina Simkovicova (nominated by SNS), and another reason for her resignation. „If she does not step down voluntarily, then let parliament decide her fate. A proposal for her dismissal has been in Parliament for several months — Parliament must finally address it at the June session," Majersky emphasized. BRATISLAVA - The Slovak financial sector continues to develop in a stable manner, and the banking sector is strong and resilient to external risks, Slovakia's central bank (NBS) Bank Board member and executive director of the NBS supervision and financial stability section Vladimir Dvoracek told a news conference dedicated to presentation of the latest Financial Stability Report on Monday. However, the sector faces growing uncertainty, which has led to NBS taking a cautious approach. It doesn't plan to change its policy settings in this area in the near future, therefore, said Dvoracek. The central bank sees three main risks causing the uncertainty. "The first is the escalation of tensions in international trade. We all know very well what the situation is like now, we're witnessing various proposals for very high tariffs, double-digit, sometimes even triple-digit figures. And all this, of course, has a negative impact not only on global trade but is also likely to have an adverse impact on our economy, as Slovakia is a small and open economy whose exports are very important to it," said Dvoracek. According to him, the economy may not fall into recession, but its relatively weak growth may slow down even further. Trade wars also have a negative impact on financial markets, which recently posted significant fluctuations resembling what was seen in the pandemic period. According to NBS, the third significant factor is domestic risk, namely the sustainability of public finances, as Slovakia is among the EU countries with the highest deficits. ko