MORNING NEWS HIGHLIGHTS - Wednesday, 19 November 2025 - 9 a.m.

TASR brings a quick morning overview of the most important events seen in Slovakia on the previous day (Tuesday, 18 November): BRATISLAVA - Another failure in the research and development grant calls issued by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for the Recovery Plan and a Knowledge-based Economy, led by Peter Kmec (Voice-SD), was the evaluation process itself, said opposition MP Jan Hargas (Progressive Slovakia) at a press conference on Tuesday. Hargas added that ousting Kmec isn't enough; further measures are required. It was the opposition that highlighted the questionable grant calls last week, after which Kmec resigned. "These decisions were announced somewhere between 24 and 29 October of this year. However, the contracts with expert evaluators were uploaded onto the central register of contracts only on 31 October and became valid on 1 November. That means that the evaluations took place before the evaluators were even contracted. I ask: who actually evaluated those projects?" said Hargas. For this reason, he called on Kmec or his successor to cancel the entire call, arguing that the evaluation process was non-transparent. BRATISLAVA - Interior Minister and coalition Voice-SD leader Matus Sutaj Estok spoke at a press conference on Tuesday about censorship applied to certain views on social networks from 2022 to 2023, claiming that state and public institutions were misused by the governments at the time in order to manipulate public opinion, TASR reported on the same day. Sutaj Estok referred to an article published by the marker.sk website, according to which some institutions allegedly asked Meta to delete certain posts on its social network. "Representatives of the governments of [then prime ministers] Eduard Heger and Ludovit Odor asked online platforms such as Facebook to block or delete posts or even entire accounts that were inconvenient for them," he said, adding that the deletions concerned a specific range of posts, such as those criticising the then government or liberal views. BRATISLAVA - The railway accident that took place near the village of Jablonov nad Turnou in Roznava district (Kosice region) in mid-October was caused by the driver of one of the trains, who ignored a red light and thus failed to respect the signals at the entrance to a tunnel. This is the conclusion of the Transport Ministry's investigation body that was announced by Transport Minister Jozef Raz (a Smer-SD nominee) at a news conference on Tuesday. The body also proposed several measures that should help to improve the safety of rail transport in the future. The minister stressed that the Transport Ministry's investigation body is a separate entity from the law-enforcement authorities. In this sense, it doesn't deal with accountability, but with the cause of the accident, i.e. a description of what happened in a given situation. It is also its task to propose measures that will have a preventive effect in order to avoid similar mistakes in the future. "The conclusion of the investigation into this accident is what seemed to be a very probable cause from the beginning, namely that the train driver ignored a red light. This means failing to respect a stop sign at the entrance to a tunnel," stated Raz. BRATISLAVA - The fulcrum of Tuesday's meeting between President Peter Pellegrini and ambassadors of EU countries stationed in Slovakia was the priorities of the Danish Council of the EU Presidency and the current challenges and prospects that Slovakia faces in European policy. The head of state pointed out in the discussion that Slovakia plays an active part in shaping European policy. Pellegrini noted that the Danish Presidency, which is nearing its end, has managed to meet its goals. "They set up three important priorities: make Europe safer, more green and competitive. In difficult times, they managed to do a dignified and solid job," said the president, underlining that the Danish Presidency has been taking place during the ongoing war in Ukraine, increased geopolitical tensions and pressure on the EU's resilience. "We discussed not only the war in Ukraine and the global situation, but also what people are going through at home: the growth in energy and food prices, an increased burden on family budgets and concerns as to whether European firms will preserve their production and jobs in Europe," added the president. BRATISLAVA - Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) welcomed NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at the Government Office on Tuesday, asking him to strengthen Slovakia's air defence, TASR has reported based on information from the Government Office's press and information department. "At a working dinner, they discussed cooperation between the Slovak Republic and NATO. In this context, Robert Fico stressed that Slovakia has the sovereign right to decide the pace and structure of its military spending," stated the press department. The talks also revolved around the current situation in Ukraine, with Fico reiterating that Slovakia will not supply lethal weapons, except under commercial contracts. However, stated Fico, Slovakia will continue providing non-lethal aid to Ukraine. PRAGUE - The Slovak government and the incoming Czech government are likely to hold a joint session soon, said Slovak Foreign Affairs Minister Juraj Blanar during a visit to Prague on Tuesday, referring to the results of the general election in the Czech Republic as well as comments made by leader of the winning party Andrej Babis on this issue, TASR has learnt from its Prague correspondent on the same day. The formation of the new Czech government currently hinges on President Petr Pavel's requirement that he'll appoint Babis as prime minister only after he publicly explains how he intends to resolve a conflict of interest, which he hasn't done so far. "After the election held in the Czech Republic, as I follow the process of how the government's manifesto is being formed, including statements by Babis, who is likely to become prime minister, as well as by other ministers who support strengthening these relations, I believe that a joint session of governments will probably take place soon," said Blanar. ko