MORNING NEWS HIGHLIGHTS - Friday, 12 September 2025 - 9 a.m.

TASR brings a quick morning overview of the most important events seen in Slovakia on the previous day (Thursday, 11 September): BRATISLAVA - Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD), following his meeting with President of the European Council Antonio Costa on Thursday, said that he will not support the adoption of a new package of sanctions against Russia unless the European Commission (EC) presents realistic proposals to align climate targets with the needs of the automotive and heavy industry sectors. The prime minister also suggested that some of the European Union's ambitious climate goals could be revised if there is the political will. Fico emphasised that he raised the question of how the EU’s demanding climate objectives can be reconciled with economic realities. "For example, the reality of Slovakia, which produces more than a million cars annually, and intends to continue to do so, but is confronted with high energy prices," he said. The premier stressed that the EU's ability to respond and find solutions will directly influence Slovakia's stance on future anti-Russia sanctions. BRATISLAVA - Slovakia respects Ukraine's struggle for the sovereignty of its own territory and therefore calls on the Ukrainian side not to look for other explanations of what the Slovak Republic has openly declared, stated the Foreign Affairs Ministry in response to the statements by Ukrainian Foreign Ministry's spokesman Heorhiy Tykhyi. Slovak diplomacy is always ready to communicate with the Ukrainian side and provide it with unbiased information, and would therefore appreciate being approached directly in case of further doubts. The Slovak ministry criticised deliberate taking out of context and manipulation. The ministry of diplomacy noted that on Wednesday (10 September), Minister Juraj Blanar (Smer-SD) provided a clear statement on behalf of Slovakia, in which he condemned the intrusion of drones into the territory of a NATO partner - Poland. "The Slovak government does not absolve the Russian Federation of its responsibility, as the Ukrainian diplomacy spokesman states, but calls for a responsible approach in assessing this incident," stated the ministry's communications department, pointing out that Slovakia fully supported Poland, which initiated consultations under NATO Article 4. Ukraine, reacting to Blanar's statements called on Slovakia on Thursday not to question Russia's responsibility for the violation of Polish airspace on Tuesday night. "A large number of Russian drones flew into Polish airspace. This is an empirical fact that doesn't require belief," spokesman Heorhiy Tykhyi told a press conference. "Such a massive border violation by Russian drones couldn't have been accidental. It's a fully deliberate escalation on the part of Russia," said the spokesman, calling on Slovakia "not to shift Moscow's responsibility with unreasonable doubts, but to acknowledge the reality as it is". BRATISLAVA - A protest against the actions of the current governing coalition is being held on SNP Square in Bratislava on Thursday. The gathering has been organised by opposition MP Alojz Hlina (Freedom and Solidarity/SaS) together with civic activist Nikita Slovak. "Let's come and say that we really don't like it here, that we want something different, we want democracy, we want really equal people in government and we want politics that we don't have to be sighing and crying about every day," stated Slovak. HIROSHIMA - President Peter Pellegrini visited Hiroshima on Thursday as part of his visit to Japan, and he paid tribute to the victims of the atomic bomb that the United States dropped on the city in 1945, TASR has learnt from its special correspondent. In Hiroshima, Pellegrini visited the Atomic Dome, laid wreaths at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial and visited the museum. He also held talks with city mayor Kazumi Matsui. "This year we commemorate 80 years since the terrible event when the first two atomic bombs were dropped here in Hiroshima and then a few days later in Nagasaki. Let's hope that these will also be the last ones to be used," said the president. BRATISLAVA - MPs centred around Tourism and Sport Minister Rudolf Huliak (Independent) have withdrawn from Parliament an amendment to the law on gambling, which was supposed, among other things, to allow national lottery company Tipos to operate self-service terminals for number lotteries, Huliak himself told a news conference on Thursday. The reason is that the amendment should be submitted as a government bill, explained Huliak, adding that it should be dealt with as early as during the September parliamentary session via a fast-track legislative procedure. The MPs, including, for example, Roman Malatinec and Ivan Sevcik (both Independent) intend to come up with other legislative proposals as well. They plan to launch a discussion on local government reform. Huliak, who is also the chairman of the extra-parliamentary Rural Party, explained that the goal is to save money. "At the same time, we want to bring as many powers and as much money as possible directly to people in villages and towns," he said. BRATISLAVA - An internal audit at the Slovak National Theatre (SND) in Bratislava has identified 15 flaws, including four highly serious ones, head of the Culture Ministry's press department Petra Demkova informed TASR on Thursday. The flaws mainly concern the uneconomical, inefficient and ineffective handling of public funds, as well as the failure to comply with the set way of handling them. The ministry spoke of serious misconduct by SND's former management. "The first serious flaw of the theatre's former management was the failure to carry out basic financial controls in the manner set by law, as it was exercised only formally," Demkova explained. The second one was the uneconomical, inefficient and ineffective use of public funds, namely by concluding a lease contract for premises in Bratislava's borough of Lamac, which were to serve as the SND Art Workshops. Although the former management found this to be a suitable choice, the audit has proven that the premises couldn't be used for the declared purpose. This subsequently led to further mismanagement of finances. ko