MORNING NEWS HIGHLIGHTS - Wednesday, 11 June 2025 - 9 a.m.

TASR brings a quick morning overview of the most important events seen in Slovakia on the previous day (Tuesday, 10 June): BRATISLAVA - Slovakia won't support the forthcoming 18th sanctions package against Russia unless the European Commission provides it with a realistic solution to the crisis situation Slovakia will find itself in after the complete halting of gas, oil and nuclear fuel supplies from Russia, Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) posted on a social network on Tuesday. The EC presented on Tuesday the 18th package of sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. It is intended to affect Russia's revenues from the energy and military industries. The new package proposes to lower the price cap on Russian oil and to ban trading with companies operating the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines and with banks involved in circumventing the sanctions. BRATISLAVA - I'm thinking of the families of the victims of the mass killing in the Austrian city of Graz, Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) posted on a social network on Tuesday, adding that it's difficult to imagine what they are going through. According to him, the world, and Europe in particular, has gone mad. "The tragedy in Austria should lead us to reflect on whether we leave Europe at the mercy of freethinkers and fools or return to honest traditions and values," wrote the premier. A 21-year-old former student shot and killed ten people at a secondary school in Graz, an unprecedented tragedy in Austria, which declared three days of national mourning. Authorities announced a death toll of 11, including the attacker, who committed suicide. Twelve others were seriously injured. TOPOLCIANKY - Slovakia and the Czech Republic are preparing a number of steps that will boost their cooperation and make life easier for their citizens, stated Slovak Foreign Affairs Minister Juraj Blanar (Smer-SD) following a meeting with his Czech counterpart Jan Lipavsky in Topolcianky (Nitra region) on Tuesday. According to Blanar, both countries are working on recognition of e-prescriptions, while an agreement on cross-border cooperation between emergency services is nearing its final signatures. The agreement has already been approved by both governments and will enter into force after ratification by the Slovak and Czech parliaments. "Thanks to this, Czech paramedics will be able to help people in need in Slovakia and vice versa," said Lipavsky. The Czech minister also stated that a police cooperation agreement is being finalised and that joint arms projects are being prepared. "These will improve the defence capability of both our countries under significantly better conditions than if we were to carry them out separately. We've also succeeded in simplifying the recognition of official documents. These are all steps that help to strengthen and develop our relations, and it's important that we're working on them," he said. BRATISLAVA - MPs failed to discuss a draft amendment to the financial transaction tax sponsored by the junior governing Slovak National Party (SNS) at a special House session on Tuesday, and they won't return to it until the next regular session scheduled for September. Although MPs did manage to open the special session and approve its agenda, the plenum was unable to deal with the amendment at its second reading, as the committees' debate on it was previously postponed. Therefore, the session was subsequently concluded, with the issue in question being included in the agenda of the session due to start on September 9. The special parliamentary session was initiated by the opposition. Its goal was to approve the scrapping of the transaction tax for tradesmen and small firms, proposed by SNS, as soon as possible. However, the coalition had already previously indicated its intention to approve the changes to the transaction tax, which have already made it to its second reading, no earlier than at the next regular House session in September. BRATISLAVA - The salaries of employees in the education sector will increase, according to amendments to the law on the remuneration of certain employees performing work in the public interest and of teaching and professional staff that were approved by Parliament on Tuesday. Salaries of teaching and professional staff will increase by 7 percent as of September 1 and by another 5 percent as of January 1, 2026. The salary hike in the case of university lecturers and researchers will be 7 percent as of this September and an additional 7 percent as of next January. Salaries of other school employees will go up as well, as a new separate salary scale will apply to non-teaching staff. At the same time, bonuses for teaching and professional staff will be introduced as a method of providing extra rewards to employees depending on their performance and the quality of their work. BRATISLAVA - Slovakia's industrial output continues to show signs of decline, falling by 0.4 percent year-on-year (y-o-y) in April 2025, the Statistics Office reported on Tuesday. After seasonal adjustments, industrial output rose by 0.5 percent month-on-month (m-o-m). Although the industrial output was lower than a year ago for the third month of this year, the pace of decline significantly decelerated in April. Dynamic growth in some key industrial branches continued to be dampened by rapid declines in other important sectors. Seven out of 15 monitored industrial branches of Slovakia's industry reported y-o-y output drop in April. The overall result in April was chiefly influenced by a 6-percent increase in output in the production of transport devices. Although the car production grew for the fourth month in a row, the growth pace slowed down to one third when compared to March. ko