MORNING NEWS HIGHLIGHTS - Saturday, 16 August 2025 - 9 a.m.

TASR brings a quick morning overview of the most important events seen in Slovakia on the previous day (Friday, 15 August): BRATISLAVA - The Specialised Criminal Court (STS) in Banska Bystrica sentenced Kristian K. (name abbreviated due to legal reasons), the second highest-ranking member of the Dunajska Streda-based Satorovci criminal gang, to a new prison term of 20 years on Friday. STS only decided on the length of the sentence. In 2019, Kristian K. was originally sentenced to 25 years. The verdict regarding his guilt, which concerned four murders and the crime of setting up and supporting a criminal group, remained unchanged. The prosecutor reserved the right to appeal, while the defendant waived this right. Kristian K.'s defence attorney in a closing statement said that the new sentence should reflect his client's cooperation with law-enforcement authorities, while claiming that he's changed behind bars. According to the attorney his client is committed to personal development, devotes his free time to education and regrets his past actions. The attorney considered a 20-year prison sentence to be appropriate. BRATISLAVA - For the Slovak government, the most important thing is that the summit between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin leads to a ceasefire and an end to the senseless killing of Slavs in Ukraine, stated Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) at a press conference on Friday. "For us, as a peace-oriented government, the most important thing is that Friday’s meeting in the USA reaches this conclusion [a ceasefire agreement]. Our second wish is that any agreement on a ceasefire and peace will not be violated," he said. Fico hinted that the summit might also produce other outcomes. "Once we become aware of these other outcomes, we'll address them together later today," he said. BRATISLAVA - Smer-SD is prepared to vote in favour of reducing the number of self-governing regions, the Slovak National Party (SNS), which came up with the proposal, is also ready to support it, while the matter now depends on the Voice-SD party, which didn't comment on it at the coalition council meeting on Thursday (August 14), stated Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) at a press conference on Friday. "We're ready to vote for this, we don't see any issues with it," he reiterated. According to the premier, reducing the number of self-governing regions is one way to save financial resources without jeopardising the functioning of the state. "I'm curious to hear what the opposition has to say about this," he added. At Thursday's meeting of the coalition council the SNS party proposed reducing the number of self-governing regions from eight to four. The proposed model would follow Slovakia's historical divisions and create four regions: Bratislava, West, Central and East. According to the party, the reform would generate savings of over €500 million by reducing the number of offices and eliminating redundancy. BRATISLAVA - Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) has criticised the activities of the opposition, especially the Progressive Slovakia (PS) party, related to the incident that happened at the festival in the town of Backi Petrovac last weekend, TASR has learnt at premier's press conference on Friday. The prime minister thinks that its actions should lead to the same situation in Slovakia as in Serbia, accusing the opposition leaders of wanting to bring skirmishes, conflicts and disorder to Slovakia. He does not understand why they are calling on him to intervene. In his view, this is an internal matter for Serbia. "An internal affair, which is a sovereign matter of Serbia, has become an excellent opportunity for our opposition politicians to, on the one hand, support the opposition in Serbia and, at the same time, try to transfer to Slovakia the 'Maidan-isation' that we are already seeing in Serbia," he noted. BRATISLAVA - There is no conflict in the governing coalition over the post of governor of Slovakia's central bank (NBS), Prime Minister and Smer-SD leader Robert Fico stated at a press conference on Friday, adding that the post belongs to the Voice-SD party, and Smer-SD isn't claiming it. The premier said this in response to the media speculation that Smer-SD would like to push through current Finance Minister Ladislav Kamenicky (Smer-SD) as head of the central bank. Fico said in the past that his party wouldn't support the current governor, Peter Kazimir, who is being promoted by Voice-SD, for another term. "We've said very clearly what our position is on the election of the central bank governor, but there is no conflict here. We're waiting for a candidate. This seat, as far as the NBS governor is concerned, belongs to the Voice-SD party. So when Voice comes up with a candidate who will pass in the government, he'll be approved. We aren't making claims to the right to the NBS governor," stated Fico. BRATISLAVA - The coalition Voice-SD party is ready to take responsibility for administrative errors in the case of the financing of Peter Pellegrini's campaign before the presidential election, party leader Matus Sutaj Estok stated on Friday in response to the suspicions related to the campaign loan. "The loan wasn't disclosed on a website as the law says it must be disclosed. I've also written to the State Election Commission stating that this is simply what happened and we're prepared to face the consequences for this administrative error," he said, announcing that the party is also ready to be held accountable if the money left earlier than it should have. However, he also declared that he had no information about it. Sutaj Estok also stressed that Pellegrini's entire campaign was financed via donations from Voice-SD members and supporters. "Even that loan was legally repaid from donations," he pointed out. BRATISLAVA - The Slovak Republic welcomes the intensified peacekeeping efforts by the administration of US President Donald Trump related to the war in Ukraine and hopes that Friday's negotiations will contribute to ending the nearly three-and-a-half-year-long conflict, Foreign Minister Juraj Blanar (Smer-SD) stated ahead of the meeting of the US and Russian presidents in Alaska, TASR was told by the ministry's communications department on Friday. The minister further stated that Slovak diplomacy is in contact with its partners from the United States at various levels and multilateral forums, and actively participated in the discussion at the extraordinary meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council. This meeting of the member states preceded the video conference of some European leaders with Trump, while Slovakia also supported the joint statement of 26 EU member states on the situation in Ukraine, said Blanar. According to the statement, in the run-up to the summit, Slovakia appealed to all interested parties to contribute constructively to the preparation and conduct of the talks and to patiently seek common ground for a lasting peace in Ukraine. "The Slovak government has stressed since its inception that this conflict has no military solution and this confirms our long-standing position that it can only be ended through diplomatic negotiations that will stop the senseless bloodshed, human suffering and destruction of the country," noted Slovakia's chief diplomat. jrg/am