MORNING NEWS HIGHLIGHTS - Sunday, 26 October 2025 - 9 a.m.

TASR brings a quick morning overview of the most important events seen in Slovakia on the previous day (Saturday, 25 October): BRATISLAVA - Our ideological disputes have been settled following the constitutional change and the Voice-SD party wants to focus on the people and regions in the future, party leader and Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok tod a news conference on Saturday, aimed at an evaluation of their two years in the government. Sutaj Estok criticised the previous government that was in power between 2020 and 2023. According to him, it only showed its "amateurism" and the total disintegration of the state. "We won't be dealing with ideological conflicts for the next two years, we have already resolved them. We clearly stand on the right side, there are only two genders (...). Now that we have these ideological disputes settled, we must work for the people, bring them results," noted Sutaj Estok. BRATISLAVA - Slovakia is devastated by huge budgetary deficits after two years, 'Slovakia' party leader and ex-premier Igor Matovic told a news conference on Saturday, dedicated to an evaluation of the two years of Premier Robert Fico's (Smer-SD) government. Matovic claims that the government's three consolidation packages have had no effect and asks how much foreign investment the government has managed to attract. "They told us that we have to be modest for public finances to improve. The reality is that every year they make a 75 percent higher state-budget deficit than we did during the biggest crises," stated Matovic. He claims that "people will pay €7 billion more into the budget next year," which contradicts Fico's election promises that "he won't take money from the people." BRATISLAVA - Slovakia is falling in several areas after two years of the current government in the office, with Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) doing his utmost to rule here forever, opposition MP Juraj Krupa (Freedom and Solidarity/SaS) said on STVR's politics programme 'Sobotne dialogy' (Saturday Dialogues). His opponent on the show, Foreign Affairs Minister Juraj Blanar (Smer-SD) rejected his criticism, claiming that the previous governments, which included also SaS, are responsible for the country's decay. "We have posted an absolute fall in the EU rankings in terms of education, health care, the social status of citizens, etc. So we are really sinking to the very bottom of the European Union as such. (...) We are internationally isolated, we aren't accepted at all today, we simply see that the pro-Russian policy that they are covering up, the 'policy oriented in all four cardinal directions', doesn't help us at all, but rather isolates us. We can also see it on the fact that the reaction of the European socialists was to expel Smer-SD," stated Krupa. BRATISLAVA - The coalition Slovak National Party (SNS) has called on President Peter Pellegrini to veto an amendment to the Gambling Act approved by Parliament on Thursday (23 October), according to the party's position sent to TASR by SNS spokesperson Zuzana Skopcova. SNS views gambling as a "necessary evil" that needs to be addressed in a comprehensive and systematic manner. "SNS believes that the president should return the bill [for reworking] and task respective ministries, especially the Tourism and Sports Ministry in cooperation with the Finance Ministry, to submit a conceptual and comprehensive law amendment, which won't be 'sewn with a hot needle' in line with the interests of individuals, but will be beneficial for the whole system and serve the public interest," stated SNS. ko