MORNING NEWS HIGHLIGHTS - Friday, 23 January 2026 - 9 a.m.

TASR brings a quick morning overview of the most important events seen in Slovakia on the previous day (Thursday, 22 January): BRUSSELS/BRATISLAVA - In general, the European Union should not be ignored, but Slovakia should also not be complicit in its incompetent leadership, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said ahead of an extraordinary European Council summit in Brussels on Thursday. Fico noted that he supports the EU and appreciates the positive impact that Slovakia's EU membership has had on its development. European Council President Antonio Costa convened a summit of EU leaders for Thursday evening. The reason are threats by US President Donald Trump related to Greenland, which Trump wants to acquire for the United States and in this context threatened to impose tariffs on several European countries. According to Fico, Costa organised the meeting to calm panic among some member states. The prime minister described the summit as a "super-expensive dinner" and does not expect any decisions to be adopted. He added that it is not known in advance when the European Council meeting will end. BRATISLAVA - Martin Winkler has become the chairman of a new municipal political party called 'Dunaj' (Danube), which will take part in the local elections in Bratislava. Winkler is also the party's candidate for the Bratislava mayor post, after being elected at the party congress. The party also plans to prepare a slate for the city council, as well as for the local councils of the city's boroughs. "We're a team of experts, independents, people who know the city and the problems of Bratislava residents well, and who are ready to work for Bratislava under the brand of the Dunaj party," said Winkler. The party's ambition is to introduce practical solutions, order and responsibility to local government. Its programme has been built on the everyday problems that really bother the people of Bratislava. Its stated key priorities include well-functioning transport, parking reform, safety, reasonable management and an efficient Bratislava City Hall. TRNAVA/BRATISLAVA - Poprad District Court issued another ruling last December in the case of a personality protection lawsuit filed by infectologist Peter Sabaka against MEP Milan M. of the Republic party (name abbreviated due to legal reasons), TASR was told by Ivana Petrufova, spokesperson for Presov Regional Court and the district courts within its jurisdiction. In a ruling that is not yet final, the court ordered Milan M. to compensate the plaintiff for non-pecuniary damages in the amount of €27,000. The district court decided on the lawsuit on 5 December 2025, following an earlier first-instance ruling of 25 August 2023 in conjunction with a judgment of Presov Region Court of 29 July 2025. "The defendant was ordered, within 48 hours of publishing a post containing an apology, to publish another post on his social media profile," the spokesperson explained. The court further ordered Milan M. to upload a personal apology in an audiovisual form with specified content and to permanently place it on his social media profile, as well as to publish a written apology to the plaintiff in specific daily newspapers BRATISLAVA - The Supreme Administrative Court on Thursday found prosecutor and former head of the Special Prosecutor's Office Daniel Lipsic guilty of one of the three charges brought against him in disciplinary proceedings. The court found Lipsic guilty of aggressively shouting at director of the personnel office of the Prosecutor-General's Office Elena Cerna that she was "conforming to [Prosecutor-General Maros] Zilinka's regime" and that "the personnel office of the PG's Office was doing extra work for the prosecutor-general". For this, the court imposed a written reprimand on him. Lipsic was acquitted of the remaining two charges in the disciplinary proposal. The decision is final. The second of the disciplinary charges concerned the dismissal of the defendants' complaint concerning the charges brought in the Virus case without knowledge of the classified annex to the investigation file. According to the Supreme Court, it wasn't proven that the act had taken place. BRATISLAVA - Protests organised by student platforms are taking place in Bratislava and Zilina on Thursday evening. The organisers say they want to express dissatisfaction with the steps taken by the current government and to point to the incompatibility of Slovakia's current political direction with their vision of the future. "Across Slovakia, student platforms and movements are joining forces to express deep concern over the actions of the current government. Their aim is to mobilise students in every corner of Slovakia and to create a unified network willing to organise demonstrations and other forms of protest," the organisers said. The goal is to form a student movement with clear demands addressed to the Slovak government. The initiative has been taken over by the platforms Students for Open Culture, the Student Clubroom in Zilina, and the new movement Student Protest. ZILINA - The biggest investment project in the history of Slovakia's rail transport, the modernisation of the Zilina railway hub, was put in operation on Thursday afternoon, with the ceremonial ribbon being cut on one of the platforms of Zilina railway station by Transport Minister Jozef Raz (a Smer-SD nominee) and railway infrastructure operator ZSR's general director Miroslav Garaj. "We've seen 14 kilometres of track from east to west and two kilometres from north to south modernised at the end of this investment. This construction project has brought in state-of-the-art signalling systems and a modern dispatching centre. Trains will be able to run at a speed of 160 kilometres per hour on these tracks," said Raz. The minister added that passengers have gained barrier-free access to six renovated platforms and better transfers from the station to sports stadiums. "In addition, the expansion and elevation of the underpass on Kysucka Street has significantly facilitated commuting for people from the Kysuce area to Zilina," stressed Raz. ko