MORNING NEWS HIGHLIGHTS - Wednesday, 13 August 2025 - 9 a.m.

TASR brings a quick morning overview of the most important events seen in Slovakia on the previous day (Tuesday, 12 August): BRATISLAVA - Parliament should look into the suspicions that the United Kingdom meddled in the Slovak parliamentary election in 2023, Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) stated in a video posted on a social network on Tuesday, adding that he wants to find out to what extent the British campaign helped the opposition Progressive Slovakia (PS) party and whether the campaign spending limit was exceeded in this case. "The Slovak Parliament should deal with two issues in the near future. First, to what extent the British campaign and British money helped 'obedient Slovakia' [a reference to Progressive Slovakia - ed.note]. How many percentage points less would they have had if the campaign hadn't been there? I would say many percent. Secondly, whether British money in favour of 'obedient Slovakia' means that the legal limit for spending on parliamentary election campaigns was exceeded," he emphasised. The premier again spoke of unfair fighting by PS. He therefore thinks that the issues in question are absolutely legitimate. "They could lead Parliament into quite serious decisions," he pointed out, assuming that the coalition Slovak National Party (SNS) will share a similar opinion with him on this matter. However, he said he doesn't know the stance of the coalition Voice-SD party, as he doesn't know what the current level of Voice-SD's inclination towards PS is, claiming that this has always been present in the party's top structures. "It is up to Voice whether it has the same clarity of mind as Smer-SD and, I believe, SNS about what happened in the summer and autumn of 2023 before the election. And whether Voice realises that as a party it could have had a significantly better result," he added. BRATISLAVA – Ombudsman Robert Dobrovodsky has contacted his Serbian counterpart Zoran Pasalic by phone and letter, asking for an investigation into the police's procedure in the Serbian town of Backi Petrovac in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina during what reportedly occurred during the Slovak National Festivities in the town over the weekend, the ombudsman's spokesman Branislav Gigac told TASR on Tuesday. "The ombudsman has expressed serious concerns over allegations that the local police failed to intervene and protect the victims during the attacks. In addition, the police allegedly blocked access roads into the town on the next day, preventing people from coming and supporting the organisers of the exhibition," said Gigac. Dobrovodsky stressed that the accusations raise serious questions about the impartiality of the police and respect for the rule of law. "The reported inaction of the police and their alleged subsequent move to block access to the town raise serious questions about their neutrality and respect for due process," he said. BRATISLAVA - Emergency Medical Service Operations Centre (OS ZZS) sent the official results of the ambulance service tender to the Health Ministry on Monday, thus completing the tender, the opposition 'Slovakia' party told a press conference on Tuesday, requesting explanations and urging the law enforcement bodies to start dealing with the case. "As the situation stands now, in line with the applicable law, the tender has been completed and this entire 'mega-fraud' has been finished with the results delivered to the ministry, meaning that no tender has been scrapped," said MP Michal Sipos (the alliance of 'Slovakia' party-For the People-the Christian Union). He went on to say that "an organised crime group has finalised this huge two-billion deal, with direct involvement of the Voice-SD party's top and leading representatives," adding that the money has been distributed already. BRATISLAVA - Chair of the junior coalition party Voice-SD and Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok dismissed claims suggesting his party is leaning towards the opposition as fabricated and, in his video statement posted on social media on Tuesday, questioned why coalition partners would accuse Voice-SD of such a move, arguing they would not be in power without his party’s decision to join the coalition in the first place. The statement came in response to remarks made earlier in the day by Prime Minister and leader of the coalition party Smer-SD Robert Fico. Fico stated he was unsure about the current level of affinity between Voice-SD and Progressive Slovakia (PS), claiming that such leanings had always existed within the upper ranks of Voice-SD. Sutaj Estok emphasised that with its political decision, Voice-SD played an instrumental role in putting together the current government and coalition. „We earned open hatred from the entire liberal sphere, the media, and professional haters for that decision. That is why I sincerely do not understand why we are being accused of a fictional inclination towards the opposition by coalition partners — who would not be governing today without our decision,” he said. BRATISLAVA - Jozef Hricka has become the new director of the Emergency Medical Service Operational Centre (OS ZSS), appointed to the position by Health Minister Kamil Sasko (Voice-SD) on Tuesday, OS ZSS spokesperson Veronika Danicova confirmed to TASR on the same day. She added that Hricka previously worked as a healthcare analyst at the University Hospital and at the state-owned VsZP health insurance company. On Monday (11 August), the then-head of OS ZZS, Marian Povolny, resigned from his post, citing a personal decision. Povolny had led the OS ZZS since February. BRATISLAVA - The initiative We Are the Forest, in cooperation with Aevis and the civic association Via Iuris, has filed 29 lawsuits over bear hunting permits against the Environment Ministry, headed by Tomas Taraba (an SNS nominee), TASR learnt on Tuesday. According to the initiative, the ministry has authorised the culling of at least 204 brown bears since the beginning of the year, marking the highest number since 2000. The environmentalists argue that the hunts are not targeting specific problem animals, thus failing to address real bear-related issues. „Hunting zones form an almost continuous barrier along migration corridors. Slovakia also risks international disputes due to bear shootings near border regions," the initiative We Are the Forest stated. jrg/ko