MORNING NEWS HIGHLIGHTS - Thursday, 11 December 2025 - 9 a.m.

TASR brings a quick morning overview of the most important events seen in Slovakia on the previous day (Wednesday, 10 December): BRATISLAVA - The Whistleblowers Protection Office (UOO) during appeal proceedings has confirmed the fine of €70,000 that it imposed on the Interior Ministry during first instance proceedings, thereby rejecting an appeal filed by the ministry. The ministry was fined for issuing a personnel order against a group of police officers without UOO's consent, even though the law obliged it to do so. According to the office, the ministry thus committed an administrative offence. In the contested ruling, the first-instance administrative body stated that the personnel orders were issued at a time when individual whistleblowers had effective protection under the Whistleblowers Protection Act, as granted to them by a prosecutor. The personnel orders concerned the transfer of police officers to district police stations. According to media reports, these were the police officers known as the 'Curilla group'. BRATISLAVA - The Interior Ministry is filing a lawsuit with the administrative court regarding a fine of €70,000 that was imposed on it by the Whistleblowers Protection Office (UOO), the Interior Ministry's strategic communications section has confirmed for TASR. "As in previous cases, the Interior Ministry is filing a lawsuit with the administrative court against this biased decision issued by the politicised UOO," stated the ministry. The ministry was fined for issuing a personnel order against a group of police officers without UOO's consent, even though the law obliged it to do so. According to the office, the ministry thereby committed an administrative offence. BRATISLAVA - The opposition has turned to the Constitutional Court over the law transforming the Whistleblowers Protection Office (UOO) into a new office, pointing to possible incompatibility with the Slovak Constitution and EU law, while also criticising the process of its adoption, opposition Progressive Slovakia (PS) MP Lucia Plavakova said on Wednesday, adding that the court should also look into the possibility of suspending its effect. "On Wednesday morning, on behalf of 63 MPs from all opposition parties (PS, Freedom and Solidarity/SaS, Christian Democrats/KDH, and 'Slovakia'), I submitted a motion to the Constitutional Court to declare the adopted law incompatible with the Constitution," she said. "Given the urgency of the situation and the irreversible impact brought by this law, we also asked the court to assess the possibility of suspending its effective date that has been set to as early as 1 January 2026," added Plavakova. BRATISLAVA - Parliament has adjourned the debates on opposition proposals to dismiss several ministers, as well as a no-confidence motion in the whole government, until the next session due to start on 27 January, as MPs have approved a proposal to this effect submitted by three coalition caucuses. MPs were supposed to deal with the motions of dismissal of six ministers and the government as a whole on Wednesday afternoon. Parliament should have started the debate on proposals to oust the ministers and the entire government as of 2 p.m. Respective proposals were submitted in succession by the opposition, seeking the ouster of Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok, Health Minister Kamil Sasko (both Voice-SD), Environment Minister Tomas Taraba (a Slovak National Party/SNS nominee), Defence Minister Robert Kalinak (Smer-SD) and Culture Minister Martina Simkovicova (a SNS nominee). The most recent proposal was to dismiss Investment Minister Samuel Migal (Independent). The proposal to hold a no-confidence motion in the government emerged back in January. BRATISLAVA - An audit of innovation grant calls for robotics and automation hasn't revealed any serious flaws, only administrative shortcomings and ethical breaches, said Education Minister and acting Deputy Prime Minister for the Recovery Plan and a Knowledge-based Economy Tomas Drucker (Voice-SD) after the government session on Wednesday. Former deputy prime minister for the recovery plan and a knowledge-based economy Peter Kmec (Voice-SD) resigned in November after criticism of grant calls to support science, research and innovation. "All projects that were successful have been examined by an internal audit. At the same time, we've also approached experts from the Czech Republic, who examined the individual evaluation reports in terms of their compliance with the quality of assessment, as well as whether the allocation of points to individual projects was sufficient and correct. According to these audits, no systemic violation of the law or serious shortcomings that would constitute a systemic failure have been noted. The internal audit confirmed some administrative errors that can be rectified on a case-by-case basis," said Drucker, adding that he's had three projects cancelled due to "ethical breaches". BRATISLAVA - Railway police have taken action regarding two cases in which trains were derailed in Bratislava on Wednesday, with both incidents involving no injuries, Bratislava region police spokesman Michal Szeiff informed TASR on the same day. The first derailment took place in the morning close to the Main Railway Station. According to the information available so far, the derailment of a diesel-powered train was probably caused by incorrectly switched points. The engine driver's breath test showed a negative result. In the second case, the police were sent to the railway depot area before 11.30 a.m. According to the information known so far, an engine was derailed there "due to a technical cause that is still unknown". ko