MORNING NEWS HIGHLIGHTS - Wednesday, 23 July 2025 - 9 a.m.

TASR brings a quick morning overview of the most important events seen in Slovakia on the previous day (Tuesday, 22 July): BRATISLAVA - House Chair Richard Rasi (Voice-SD) still believes that the coalition will return to dropping a single (nationwide) electoral district from the Constitution, hoping that agreement will eventually be found and the given sentence will be removed. Rasi said this when answering a question by TASR regarding such a move, which Voice-SD wanted to push through via an amending proposal to the government's draft amendment to the Constitution, but MPs rejected it. "First, we'll wait to see how it will turn out with the Constitution as a whole, whether Parliament approves it or not. If it doesn't, maybe there will be a new amendment to the Constitution in which it could be incorporated," Rasi told TASR. He claims that the provision stating that Slovakia forms a single electoral district for general elections was inserted into the Constitution during the previous government's term out of fear. Rasi opines that a system set up in this way isn't fair, with regions being underrepresented in it. "It's all about people in a region electing someone who lives there, whom they trust and who will represent their interests in Parliament," he said. He pointed out that dropping the provision would not bring about specific changes to the electoral system, but would only open a debate on them. BRATISLAVA - If the EU's economic sanctions against Russia had worked, the first packages would have had a sufficient effect and there would be no need to approve the 18th sanction package in a row now, MEP and far-right Republic party leader Milan Uhrik has said in interview for TASR.TV. The EU Council last Friday (18 July) officially adopted the 18th package of anti-Russian sanctions, which was previously approved by permanent representatives of EU-member states in Brussels. "Sanctions definitely don't help the Russian economy, which then re-focuses more on China, but they also damage the European economy, throwing us into a recession. And they definitely aren't a solution to the military conflict in Ukraine," said Uhrik. Slovakia blocked the package's adoption for a long time, withdrawing its veto only in return for political guarantees from the European Commission in the case of a complete halt to Russian gas imports to the EU. "The Slovak Republic managed to negotiate some kind of letter of assurance, but I've read that letter, and, in my opinion, it has no legally binding force," stated Uhrik. BRATISLAVA - The Investments, Regional Development and Informatisation Ministry will be headed on a temporary basis by its State Secretary Radomir Salitros due to the surgery that Investments Minister Samuel Migal (Independent) is set to undergo at the Eastern Slovak Institute of Heart and Vascular Diseases (VUSCH) in Kosice, TASR has learnt from Migal's post on a social network on Tuesday. "While many people may be on holiday, the backlog from the past has caught up with me. Therefore, I've decided to put myself in the hands of the doctors at this very hospital (VUSCH). I trust Slovak doctors because they are smart, wise and educated. I believe that my operation, the procedure that I'll undergo, will turn out well. My colleague Rado Salitros, who is taking over the leadership of the entire ministry at the moment, will provide information about it afterwards," stated the investments minister. PRESOV/BRATISLAVA – A 42-year-old member of the Prison and Court Guard Corps (ZVJS) sustained a gunshot wound on Tuesday at the premises of the Regional Prosecutor's Office in Presov, ZVJS spokesperson Anna Beckova Ragasova confirmed for TASR on the same day. The incident was first reported by JOJ24 TV, which stated that the man allegedly fired the shot himself. According to Beckova Ragasova, the injured officer was assigned to the Judicial Guard section at the Prison and Remand Centre in Presov. The shooting occurred while he was on duty. VISNOVE - The concreting of both tunnel tubes in the more than seven-kilometre Visnove motorway tunnel (Zilina region) has been completed, Transport Minister Jozef Raz (a Smer-SD nominee) stated on Tuesday, adding that the work on the Lietavska Lucka-Dubna Skala D1 motorway section is thus moving into the pre-final stage. "We've passed a significant milestone of this construction. A few hours ago the 'finisher' came out of the second tunnel tube, and we have a concrete roadway in both tunnels. This is a significant step towards handing over this structure as soon as possible. The contractual deadline is February 2026, but we're still hopeful that it will be done by the end of the year," added the minister. According to general director of the National Highway Company (NDS) Filip Machacek, the completion of the concreting of the roadway in both tunnel tubes is an important milestone in order to be able to continue with further follow-up work. "There are 720 kilometres of cables, of which 560 kilometres have been laid. We have 1,039 LED lights, two-thirds of which have been installed. Of the 84 fans, 42 have been installed. The crucial part is now up to the contractor for the technological part of the tunnel. That six months will be extremely challenging to get what we want," added Machacek. SURANY/BRATISLAVA – The We Protect Our Own civil initiative has once again accused GIB EnergyX Slovakia, the Economy Ministry and state-owned company MH Invest of unlawful practices and fraud related to the permit process for constructing a battery plant in Surany (Nitra region) and demanded an immediate suspension of all construction work until the completion of a comprehensive environmental impact assessment (known as a full EIA), Stanislav Gulas of the civil initiative announced on Tuesday. GIB EnergyX Slovakia has submitted several building permit applications related to the construction of the Surany Industrial Park and the battery manufacturing plant. "The investor is submitting more applications, but the environmental assessment for battery production itself has only just begun. With the consent of MH Invest, however, the investor is knowingly and incorrectly attaching a decision from the preliminary screening process (the so-called small EIA), which applied only to the industrial park and not to battery production," claim the activists. ko