MORNING NEWS HIGHLIGHTS - Tuesday, 24 June 2025 - 9 a.m.

TASR brings a quick morning overview of the most important events seen in Slovakia on the previous day (Monday, 23 June): BRATISLAVA - Slovakia won't support any increase in spending on the purchase of weapons systems above the 2025 level in the 2026 state budget, Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) stated on Monday, adding that the state must reserve to itself the sovereign right to decide at what pace and structure it is prepared to increase the budget of the Defence Ministry in order to achieve the NATO plan in 2035. The premier further argues that any increase in the defence budget for 2026 will only be used for dual-purpose projects such as hospitals and road infrastructure, TASR was told by the Government Office's press department. "The Slovak Republic has other priorities than armaments in the coming years at a time of recovering public finances and catching up with the average standard of living in the European Union," stated Fico. The prime minister went on to say that the majority of NATO member states support a sharp increase in defence spending, up to 5 percent of GDP in 2035, pointing out that Slovakia is a NATO member state and has to decide whether to respect its membership obligations or to adopt a different solution in the future. "Moreover, Slovakia is able to achieve NATO requirements without a dramatic increase in arms spending to 5 percent of GDP," he added. JASLOVSKE BOHUNICE - Representatives of the state-owned Nuclear and Decommissioning Company (JAVYS) and an innovative European company called NewCleo signed the founding agreement on setting up a joint venture called 'Centre for Developing Spent Nuclear Fuel Use' at the JAVYS premises in Jaslovske Bohunice (Trnava region) on Monday, marking another step toward the future construction of four fourth-generation advanced modular reactors. Slovakia's Nuclear Energy Research Institute (VUJE) and NewCleo also signed a memorandum of understanding related to the development and design of data centres. "Nuclear energy has the full support of the government, it has full political backing," assured Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) in his speech shortly before the signing of the founding agreement, adding that although Slovakia will become an exporter of electricity after the full start-up of the fourth unit of the nuclear power plant in Mochovce (Nitra region), the demands for electricity will increase in the future. "Around 2040, we can count on an 80-percent increase in electricity consumption in Slovakia," he said. He therefore welcomes all steps aimed at expanding electricity generation capacity in Slovakia. In connection with the planned construction of fourth-generation modular reactors in Jaslovske Bohunice, he pointed to "an excellent idea of how to handle and work with already spent nuclear fuel". One modular reactor should have a capacity of around 200 MWe. "If it is possible, the plan is to build four such reactors, which is 800 MWe in total," added the prime minister. Vice-premier and Economy Minister Denisa Sakova (Voice-SD) spoke about the involvement of Slovak experts in the process. "We offer our know-how in nuclear energy, we offer land," she said. Head of NewCleo Stefano Buono explained that the benefit will be the recycling of the radioactive waste produced, which will be able to provide Slovakia with energy for hundreds of years to come. The recycling of the nuclear fuel should be carried out in France. "New fuel will be created and we'll bring it back to Slovakia," he stated. PARTIZANSKE - Local authorities have asked the government to cancel the decision to freeze €200 million in European Union (EU) funds, representatives of the Slovak Towns and Villages Association (ZMOS), the Slovak Towns Union (UMS) and the Self-governing Regions Association (SK8) stated at a press conference in Partizanske (Trencin region) on Monday, adding that they want to meet with the three most senior constitutional officials, and if the meeting is not successful, they will approach the European Parliament. ZMOS chairman Jozef Bozik reiterated that he considers the decision to freeze the EU funds as unfair and a negative signal in the relationship between local authorities and the government, claiming that Investments, Regional Development and Informatisation Minister Samuel Migal (Independent) guaranteed him that the local authorities won't lose the funds. "We want to address this issue because this isn't money for mayors and governors, this is money for the inhabitants of our towns, municipalities and self-governing regions," said Bozik, adding that questioning local authorities for not doing so should be done primarily by the citizens who live in them. SK8 head Jozef Viskupic also rejected the criticism of the slow absorption of funds, identifying the problem as the delay in the preparation of the programming period, preferentially announced demand-oriented calls and long checks. "The total allocation of integrated territorial investments stands at €1.4 billion, the value of approved projects and plans is €870 million, or 72 percent. The real target for the end of this year is 85 percent, the submitted applications for non-refundable funds are in the amount of €522 million, approved applications only €193 million, which means that the projects are ready, there's interest and the money can be directed, but without calls and without the checks of public procurement, nothing will move," said Viskupic. At a press conference on Monday, UMS head Richard Rybnicek told the government that local authorities aren't civil servants and aren't subordinate to the government, but are partners who are directly elected by the citizens. "We need to speed up the absorption of EU funds. No, we need to speed up the bureaucracy in the state, which is the responsibility of the ministries and the premier," he said. BRUSSELS - The eighteenth sanctions package against Russia won't have a negative impact on the Slovak economy in its current form; negotiations on the package are still ongoing and Slovakia is ready to support it, but it's asking for guarantees on the announced EU plan to disconnect from gas, oil and nuclear fuel supplies from Russia, Foreign and European Affairs Minister Juraj Blanar (Smer-SD) stated at the EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Brussels on Monday. "We've said unequivocally that this [support for the package] is a technical aspect that we link with the political one," said Blanar, referring to the European Commission's plan to gradually stop importing energy resources from Russia to Europe by 2027. According to the minister, Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) will link the 18th package of anti-Russian sanctions with the European Commission's proposal at this week's European Council meeting and will ask for guarantees and support in eliminating the negative consequences of the disconnection from Russian resources. This plan will seriously affect the economy and the price of final products, stressed Blanar. Slovakia's request to link these topics has been accepted by the remaining EU member states essentially without reservations, he noted. BRUSSELS - Slovakia will chair the Austerlitz Format (S3: Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia) between 1 July 2025 and 30 June 2026, Foreign and European Affairs Minister Juraj Blanar (Smer-SD) has stated, the Foreign Ministry's communications department told TASR on Monday, adding that Slovakia's priorities will be energy security, cooperation in European affairs and EU enlargement to the Western Balkan countries, as well as the development of transport infrastructure, digital transformation and development cooperation. Blanar took over the rotating presidency from the Czech Republic in the form of a traditional relay baton at a joint meeting with his Czech counterpart Jan Lipavsky and Austrian Minister Beata Meinl-Reisinger on the sidelines of the EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Brussels. Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Austria have expressed their interest in continuing the trilateral political dialogue with a view to developing specific cooperation in this regional grouping. Blanar said this format has played an important role in Central European cooperation for ten years. "Our partnership is based on geographical proximity and strong historical, economic and people-to-people ties," emphasised Blanar, who also presented the priorities of the Slovak presidency in S3 to his Czech and Austrian counterparts. PRIEVIDZA - Six professional firefighters from Prievidza (Trencin region) responded to an explosion in a chemistry lab at a grammar school in Prievidza, where two people were injured, TASR learnt from Marian Petrik, spokesperson for the Regional Directorate of the Fire and Rescue Corps (HaZZ) in Trencin, on Monday. According to Petrik, the spaces of the chemistry classroom were inspected by firefighters wearing breathing apparatus. The explosion apparently didn't cause damage in the room, and no windows were broken. Spokeswoman of the Operational Centre of the Rescue Medical Service of the Slovak Republic Petra Klimesova stated that paramedics treated a 43-year-old woman with difficulty breathing directly at the scene. “An eighteen-year-old patient was transported to the hospital in Bojnice [Trencin region] with burns to the neck and superficial injuries to other parts of the body,” Klimesova added. am