MORNING NEWS HIGHLIGHTS - Thursday, 9 October 2025 - 9 a.m.

TASR brings a quick morning overview of the most important events seen in Slovakia on the previous day (Wednesday, 8 October): BRATISLAVA - Labour Minister Erik Tomas (Voice-SD) partly accommodated a request from employers by postponing the planned Economic and Social Council (tripartite) meeting on the state budget from Thursday to Friday (10 October). The employers originally requested that the meeting should be postponed until next week. "Economic and Social Council chairman Erik Tomas has decided to postpone its special session to 8 a.m. on Friday. He's met the social partners' request for more time to familiarise themselves with the 2026 draft state budget," said the Labour Ministry. Originally, the tripartite meeting should have been held on Thursday (9 October). The employers cited the failure to meet the deadlines for submitting the draft budget as the reason for their request. Despite verbal promises that the draft would be submitted no later than 7 October, that hasn't happened, they argued, adding that this amounts to a violation of the rules of procedure of tripartite meetings, which stipulate that documents should be submitted no later than three days before a meeting. The Finance Ministry published the draft budget on Wednesday morning. BRATISLAVA - President Peter Pellegrini has decided to sign the package of consolidation measures for next year, the President's Office reported on Wednesday following a "constructive conversation" between the head of state, Prime Minister Robert Fico and Finance Minister Ladislav Kamenicky (both Smer-SD). "The consolidation package is a challenge for the government and society as a whole to overcome a complex and difficult period of public finance recovery. The debt created by previous governments will not be easy to bring under control and will require a lot of effort. Getting Slovakia back on a sound economic path will not be easy, and, in many cases, it will be painful. I believe that the government will not abandon its social agenda and will continue to implement it," stated Pellegrini. "Today, along with President Peter Pellegrini and in the presence of Finance Minister Ladislav Kamenicky and Foreign and European Affairs Minister Juraj Blanar [Smer-SD], I discussed serious issues related to the consolidation of public finances and current foreign policy issues. Among other things, I informed the president that the government is ready to approve the draft state budget for 2026 on Friday [10 October] and submit it to Parliament for discussion," said Fico after the meeting, praising what he called the constructive relations between the top constitutional officials based on mutual respect. BANSKA BYSTRICA – Closing arguments continued at the Specialised Criminal Court in Banska Bystrica on Wednesday in the trial of Juraj C. [name abbreviated due to legal reasons], who shot Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) in Handlova (Trencin region) on 15 May last year. Following the final statement by prosecutor Katarina Habcakova on 2 October, defence lawyer Namir Alyasry presented his argument on the seventh day of the trial. Alyasry proposed that the act committed by his client should be reclassified as the criminal offence of attacking a public official. Juraj C., a pensioner, is currently charged with a terrorist attack against a protected person and faces a potential life sentence. While there is no doubt that he committed the act, the legal classification remains in dispute. According to Alyasry, the prosecution of his client is justified, but he rejected the terrorism charge. BRATISLAVA - The Economy Ministry has been aware of the fact that it won't be possible to pay out energy assistance for households from EU funds for several weeks, said Economy Minister Denisa Sakova (Voice-SD) following the cabinet meeting on Wednesday, adding that the government is therefore looking for a 'plan B' for funding, although European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen promised Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) in a letter in July that energy aid could be financed from EU funds. Sakova said that she had several meetings in Brussels last week. "I announced again there that at the beginning of July, the European Commission president sent a letter to the prime minister to reassure him that our energy assistance can be financed from EU funds," she said. "We've been working on a replacement solution B for about four, maybe even five weeks. And that alternative solution B is that we're looking for projects that are currently financed from the state budget. Those projects would be financed from unspent funds, from EU funds; and, in turn, we would then have funds freed up in the state budget for energy assistance," she stated. BRATISLAVA - Slovakia's general government deficit should drop to 4.1 percent of GDP next year, which would be less than €6 billion, according to a draft general government budget for 2026-2028 submitted by the Finance Ministry for a tripartite meeting scheduled for Thursday (9 October). This year the deficit is expected to reach 5 percent of GDP, i.e. more than the 4.7 percent of GDP that was approved in the 2025 budget. In line with the draft, the deficit should continue to decline in the following years, namely to 3.5 percent of GDP in 2027 and 2.8 percent of GDP in 2028. "In order to press the deficit below 3 percent of GDP by 2028, it will be necessary to adopt consolidation measures amounting to 1.8 percent of GDP in future budgets," stated the Finance Ministry. Total revenues of the general government budget in 2026 are projected at €62 billion, or 43 percent of GDP. Expenditures should reach €67.9 billion, or 47.01 percent of GDP. The deficit should thus amount to €5.9 billion, or 4.1 percent of GDP. BRATISLAVA - The opposition Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party is organising a protest and march in front of the headquarters of the Slovak Intelligence Service (SIS) in Bratislava on Wednesday evening. The opposition party is demanding the dismissal of secret service head Pavol Gaspar. "Pavol Gaspar is a symbol that this government isn't serving the people, isn't serving the law, isn't serving the Constitution, and therefore it's important to say - enough is enough," said MP Maria Kolikova (SaS) at a press conference on Wednesday. Opposition politicians have criticised Gaspar regarding a number of suspicions linked to his property, and concerning his traffic accident in Nitra at the end of August. They've condemned the fact that he hasn't yet made a statement to the police about the incident. ko