SUMMARY - Wednesday, 5 November 2025 - 9 p.m.

Bratislava, 5 November (TASR) – President Peter Pellegrini signed the 2026 state budget law on Wednesday, with the public finance deficit expected to reach 4.1 percent of GDP next year, amounting to just under €6 billion - a decrease from this year's projected 5 percent of GDP. https://etasr.sk/article/22629039 Bratislava, 5 November (TASR) - President Peter Pellegrini has signed a package of education laws, with the aim of the seven laws being to bring about changes from nursery schools to universities, President Office's communications department told TASR on Wednesday, adding that the laws represent the biggest reform of education in Slovakia in the past 20 years. https://etasr.sk/article/22629475 Bratislava, 5 November (TASR) – The case of the murder of investigative journalist Jan Kuciak is set to be retried at the Specialised Criminal Court (STS) in Pezinok (Bratislava region) on 26 January 2026, TASR was told by legal representative of the Kuciak family Peter Kubina. https://etasr.sk/article/22629671 Bratislava, 5 November (TASR) – Algeria has opened an embassy in Bratislava, with Slovak Deputy Foreign and European Affairs Minister Marek Estok receiving first ambassador of the newly established embassy in Bratislava Habiba Derradji Kherrour on Tuesday (4 November), TASR learnt from the ministry press department on Wednesday. https://etasr.sk/article/22629516 Warsaw/Bratislava, 5 November (TASR-correspondent) – Greenpeace Poland has lodged a complaint with the European Commission against Slovakia over what it describes as the illegal culling of brown bears, claiming that the Slovak government authorised the killing of up to 350 bears without carrying out the strategic environmental impact assessment required by law, the TASR special correspondent in Warsaw reported on Tuesday. https://etasr.sk/article/22629468 Bratislava, 5 November (TASR) – The opposition's Progressive Slovakia (PS) party, together with Freedom and Solidarity (SaS), Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) and the non-parliamentary Democrats, is calling a gathering for 17 November to mark the legacy of the Velvet Revolution [the 1989 fall of the totalitarian regime in erstwhile Czechoslovakia—ed.note] at Freedom Square in Bratislava, Alec Borovy from the PS press department told TASR on Wednesday. https://etasr.sk/article/22629419 Bratislava, 5 November (TASR) – The government has a month and a half to show whether Slovakia is still a democratic country, opposition's Progressive Slovakia (PS) party declared on Wednesday. https://etasr.sk/article/22629380 Belgrade, 5 November (TASR) - Slovak career diplomat Marcel Pesko took up the post of head of mission of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Serbia on 1 November, with the mission announcing the news on Wednesday, TASR has reported, citing Tanjug agency and an OSCE press release. https://etasr.sk/article/22629367 Bratislava, 5 November (TASR) – Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) is arrogantly downplaying the situation surrounding the ambulance tender as if it were a trivial matter, even though it concerns two billion euros and people's lives, said opposition's MP Oskar Dvorak (Progressive Slovakia/PS), adding that this is a prime minister who doesn't care about people's health at all. https://etasr.sk/article/22629362 Bratislava, 5 November (TASR) – If fiscal policy in the coming years keeps to the government's targets — namely, gradually reducing the general government deficit to 2.8 percent of GDP by 2028 — the deficit would have to be lowered further to 2.4 percent of GDP in order to stop growth in the public debt, warned the Council for Budgetary Responsibility (RRZ) on Wednesday. https://etasr.sk/article/22629207 Bratislava, 5 November (TASR) - Cooperation between the V4 (Visegrad Four) countries (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia) is a key prerequisite for our successful development in the European space, Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) posted on social media in connection with his meeting with Polish President Karol Nawrocki on Wednesday. https://etasr.sk/article/22629195 Bratislava, 5 November (TASR) – The opposition Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party has organised another march in Bratislava on Wednesday calling for the dismissal of Slovak Intelligence Service (SIS) director Pavol Gaspar. https://etasr.sk/article/22629183 Abu Dhabi, 5 November (TASR) - Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok met his counterpart from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Tuesday during a meeting of the International Security Alliance in Abu Dhabi, Interior Ministry spokesman Matej Neumann has told TASR. https://etasr.sk/article/22629143 Bratislava, 5 November (TASR) – Opposition MP Lucia Plavakova (Progressive Slovakia/PS) has welcomed the fact that the Constitutional Court has ruled that part of the amendment to the Freedom of Information Act is in conflict with the Constitution, and she recalled that the opposition has been warning that the measure was unconstitutional since the very beginning. https://etasr.sk/article/22629025 Bratislava, 5 November (TASR) – The opposition 'Slovakia' party is calling on Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) to dismiss Health Minister Kamil Sasko (Voice–SD) at Wednesday's cabinet meeting, because if he doesn't, he'll be admitting to having a personal interest in the ambulance service tender and being involved in the "rackets" surrounding it, stated former health minister (2020-21) Marek Krajci ('Slovakia'-For the People) at a press conference. https://etasr.sk/article/22629020 Notice: If you click on the link or copy it into the search window, the browser will display the full text of the message in the new e-TASR client zone. 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