MORNING NEWS HIGHLIGHTS - Wednesday, 5 November 2025 - 9 a.m.

TASR brings a quick morning overview of the most important events seen in Slovakia on the previous day (Tuesday, 4 November): BRATISLAVA - The Health Ministry acted at odds with the law on health-care providers and the law on administrative proceedings during the tender to select operators of ambulance stations, Prosecutor-General (PG) Maros Zilinka has posted on a social network. "After receiving the Emergency Medical Service Operations Centre's report on the results of the tender on 11 August, the Health Ministry returned the report to the operations centre on 12 August. The operations centre then scrapped the tender on 13 August, and the Health Ministry halted the proceedings regarding applications for a permit to operate ambulance stations on 8 October. By this, the ministry acted at odds with the law on health-care providers and the law on administrative proceedings," stated Zilinka. According to Zilinka, the ministry as an administrative body didn't respect the legal order by which it was bound by the result of the tender. A commission set up by the operations centre prepared a report on the tender. "After receiving the report on 11 August, the ministry was obliged to act and decide on issuing a permit or rejecting the application for a permit within ten days [of receiving the report]. However, it returned the report to the operations centre and didn't make a decision on the administrative proceedings based on the binding tender result," explained the PG. BRATISLAVA - The opposition Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) is warning of a worsening security in Slovakia as well as an increase in shop thefts, while claiming that recent amendments to the Criminal Code are to blame and calling for a constructive solution to petty property crime, announced KDH chair Milan Majersky and vice-chair Viliam Karas on Tuesday. The party believes that repeat offenders when it comes to petty theft should again be addressed by the Criminal Code. According to KDH, imprisonment should only follow a refusal to perform community service. "The root cause was the reform of the Criminal Code introduced by the govering coalition. A reform of criminal law was necessary – I also carried one out as minister. However, I worked with my advisers and experts in an evolutionary, not revolutionary, way – meaning step by step, introducing the reform gradually in order to avoid negative effects. This government, however, took a revolutionary approach, which in practice meant that a vast number of offences ceased to be crimes and were transferred to come under misdemeanour law. The state wasn't prepared for such a radical change," said Karas. BRATISLAVA - The leaders of opposition parties Progressive Slovakia (PS), Freedom and Solidarity (SaS), the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) and the non-parliamentary Democrats met on Tuesday to discuss future cooperation, and they agreed to hold consultations on programme priorities with the aim of finding common ground, TASR learnt on the same day. According to PS leader Michal Simecka, there's a need to overcome the crisis that followed the vote on a constitutional amendment, which strained cooperation among the parties. SaS chair Branislav Groehling expressed his hope that Tuesday's meeting will be the first step towards a future government manifesto that will bring a restart for Slovakia. "The leaders of the four opposition parties exchanged views on the current political and social situation. They agreed on a common goal – to replace the government of Robert Fico (Smer-SD) through democratic means," said the leaders in a joint statement sent to TASR by PS's media department. PRAGUE - Slovak President Peter Pellegrini met with Czech President Petr Pavel on Tuesday evening at the Municipal House in Prague, where he attended a gala concert by the Kosice State Philharmonic Orchestra to mark the anniversaries of the births of former Czechoslovak President Tomas Garrigue Masaryk and Slovak politician and diplomat Milan Rastislav Stefanik, TASR's Prague correspondent reported on the same day based on information from the Slovak Presidential Office's communications department. According to Pellegrini, the meeting with Pavel confirmed the mutual interest in strengthening relations and cooperation between the two nations at regional, cross-border, academic and scientific levels. "Slovaks and Czechs are now building their own statehood in sovereign republics. However, we are now members of the joint European and North Atlantic community, which provides us with a favourable political, cultural and security framework for the development of our countries," stressed Pellegrini. BRATISLAVA - In the latest Digital Competitiveness Ranking by the Swiss Institute for Management Development (IMD), Slovakia fell by five places to 57th out of 69 assessed countries, with the top spots taken by Switzerland, the United States and Singapore, while the other Visegrad Group countries (Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland) ranked above Slovakia, the Institute of Freedom and Enterprise (ISP), which cooperated on the ranking, reported on Tuesday. The IMD ranking evaluates countries in three key areas – knowledge, technology and readiness for new technologies – covering nine sub-factors and using 61 specific criteria. According to ISP, Slovakia's lag in digitisation is evident even in absolute terms: it obtained 50.72 points, roughly half of Switzerland's score. This trend suggests that other economies have advanced more rapidly in key areas of digitisation. Among Slovakia's neighbours, Austria performed best, taking 24th place. The Czech Republic ranked 35th, while Poland and Hungary finished next to each other in 45th and 46th places. In absolute terms, with Switzerland achieving the maximum of 100 points, the region's countries lag behind – with scores ranging from 60 (Poland and Hungary) to nearly 80 (Austria). BRATISLAVA - The Agricultural Payment Agency (PPA) started to pay out advance payments for direct payments under the 2025 call on Tuesday, Agriculture Minister Richard Takac (Smer-SD) announced at a news conference on the same day, adding that farmers will receive some €300 million in total in two rounds by 28 November. "A total of 14,073 applications have been submitted for this call, with farmers having until the end of May to file their applications. The requested amount, i.e. the amount that will be paid out in direct payments under this call, is some €600 million," said Takac. Farmers have applied for subsidies for almost 1.8 million hectares of land. PPA launched the first round of direct payments on Tuesday, while the second round will begin on 17 November and advance payments should be paid out by 28 November. PPA will start issuing final decisions as of the beginning of December. ko