MORNING NEWS HIGHLIGHTS - Thursday, 5 March 2026 - 9 a.m.

TASR brings a quick morning overview of the most important events seen in Slovakia on the previous day (Wednesday, 4 March): BRATISLAVA - The governing coalition has agreed to scrap the law transforming the Whistleblowers Protection Office (UOO) into a new office whose implementation has been suspended by the Constitutional Court, said Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) following the government session on Wednesday. The premier specified that the repeal should take place at the March House session. "We stand by this law, which we passed at the end of last year, but we must respect the Constitutional Court's ruling," stated Fico. According to him, the result of the current situation is 'legislative deadlock' that complicates matters. "That's why we've decided to scrap this December law, in order to clear the table and focus on what is important," stated the premier, partly with regard to negotiations with the European Commission and drawing money from the recovery plan. "We'll repeal the law and then discuss how to set everything up," he added. Parliament passed the law on UOO's transformation in December 2025. The new legislation should have brought several changes. In addition to the whistleblowers agenda, the newly established office was also meant to take over the agenda of compensating victims of crime from the Justice Ministry. The law was also intended to address reviews of protection during both criminal and administrative proceedings. President Peter Pellegrini vetoed the legislation, returning it to Parliament for reconsideration. However, MPs broke the president's veto and re-approved the law. The Constitutional Court suspended its effect before it could take effect. The opposition contested the law in court. BRATISLAVA - The Slovak Electricity Transmission System (SEPS) will terminate its contract for providing emergency electricity supplies to Ukraine, SEPS chairman of the board and chief executive officer Martin Magath announced at the Government Office on Wednesday after the cabinet approved the move via a resolution. "SEPS hasn't been providing emergency assistance since the moment the decision was announced. Today, the government adopted a resolution that legally completes the entire process. SEPS will terminate the contract with Ukrenergo on providing emergency assistance," said Magath. According to him, emergency supplies involve electricity supplies needed at certain moments to stabilise Ukraine's power grid. "It isn't electricity used for lighting, heating, cooking or normal daily life," he underlined. "We therefore strongly reject statements made by many politicians, activists and experts suggesting that we're going to completely halt any electricity transmission to Ukraine," stressed Magath . He added that SEPS has concluded emergency electricity contracts with various transmission system operators. "This particular contract doesn't contain sanctions, and there isn't even an obligation to provide emergency assistance if the situation in our system doesn't allow it," he explained. BRATISLAVA - The coalition Voice-SD party supports a measure via which Slovaks abroad would vote directly on election day at embassies or at other state institutions rather than by post, said party leader Matus Sutaj Estok on Wednesday. Sutaj Estok claimed that voting by mail from abroad fails to meet the principles of an equal, direct and secret ballot. He said that Voice-SD will demand that voting abroad at embassies should apply for presidential elections as well. "If Slovaks are to vote abroad, let them do so directly and secretly; for example, through our embassies, in a constitutionally sound manner and without any doubts. That is how it should be in a democratic country. At the same time, we in Voice will call for this method of voting to be applied as well to presidential elections, in which postal voting is impossible due to the two-round system. The government will thus also keep what it promised in its manifesto," he said. Sutaj Estok criticised statements by opposition representatives regarding the coalition's plan to scrap voting by mail from abroad in general elections. "They are frightening people, shouting about the end of democracy, but this is only an adjustment to voting from abroad; not a coup or cancelling elections, but a mere technical change," he said. He pointed to opposition claims that rules shouldn't be changed 18 months before elections, stating that when they were a part of government, they inserted a provision stating that Slovakia constitutes a single electoral district for general elections into the Constitution eight months before the [general] election. "They didn't mind it at all at that time," he said. BRATISLAVA - Sunday's (1 March) press conference by Smer-SD party leaders was completely unrelated to the police inspectorate's 'Operation Cooperating Defendant' on Tuesday (3 March), Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) stated on Wednesday. Fico again criticised the approach of the law-enforcement authorities to cooperating witnesses in the period 2020 to 2023, when Smer-SD nominees faced criminal prosecutions over corruption-related charges. "We want to strictly separate what was said on Sunday morning about one of the most well-known Slovak cooperating defendants, Mr. Mako, and prosecutor of the Prosecutor-General's Office (PG) Michal Surek, from what you are so widely describing in the media today," emphasised Fico. Fico said that he can imagine the pressure faced by the Prosecutor-General's Office following the detention of one of its prosecutors on Tuesday. "We hope that there will be no excesses and that the steps taken by the PG's office in this regard will be professional and not prompted by pressure," he underlined. According to Parliamentary Vice-chair Tibor Gaspar (Smer-SD), witness testimonies of so-called cooperating defendants were allegedly forced in the past. BRATISLAVA - Investment, Regional Development and Informatisation Minister Samuel Migal (Independent) has rejected criticism from the opposition Progressive Slovakia (PS) party regarding the modernisation project of the slovensko.sk eGovernment website, stressing that it isn't just a site, but comprehensive digital infrastructure of the state that the government considers to be a strategic investment, TASR reported on Wednesday. "The central site is not just some webpage. There's a vast amount of hardware and software behind it, together forming Slovakia's backbone digital website," stated Migal, adding that the decision to include the project among strategic investments was a collective decision made by the government. He also criticised PS MP Jan Hargas, suggesting that he should focus primarily on his work as an MP and on legislation. At a briefing held earlier on Wednesday, PS MPs Hargas and Stefan Kiss announced the filing of a motion with the Prosecutor-General's Office for it to review Migal's conduct regarding the modernisation of the website. They also questioned the government's decision to grant 'strategic investment' status to the project, as it is primarily intended for large infrastructure projects such as motorways or hospitals. BRATISLAVA - Slovakia successfully carried out on Wednesday its third evacuation flight from the crisis region in the Middle East, with a government aircraft bringing a total of 84 passengers from Amman, Jordan, to Bratislava, TASR was told by the Foreign Ministry's communications department. In addition to Slovak nationals, there were also citizens of 15 other nationalities on board, including 12 employees of the European Union delegation in Jerusalem. "We remain ready to respond quickly and effectively to crisis events and offer assistance not only to our own citizens, but also to other countries in returning their citizens home," said Foreign and European Affairs Minister Juraj Blanar (Smer-SD). The minister noted that given the assistance to citizens of other European Union member states, the third evacuation flight was included in the EU civil protection mechanism, which allows for the reimbursement of up to 75 percent of the costs. Slovakia's chief diplomat reported that eight repatriation flights have been prepared until 8 March this year, including Wednesday's evacuation, and that they already have the necessary permits for overflight and landing. Another four are in the preparation stage in terms of staffing and securing subsequent diplomatic permits. BRATISLAVA - Prosecutor of the Prosecutor-General's (PG) Office Michal S. [name abbreviated due to legal reasons] and three other individuals have been released from custody, TASR was told by their lawyer Jan Dulovic. They were detained and charged as part of the Internal Affairs Inspectorate's (UIS) 'Operation Cooperating Defendant' on Tuesday (3 March). In addition to Michal S., the police inspectorate also released police officers Branislav D., Robert M., and Roman S. Police officers Jan C. and Pavol D. remain in custody. However, according to Dulovic, there is no information yet on a possible proposal for their custody. UIS detained and charged four current and two former police officers, plus one civilian, with extortion and abuse of power by a public official, allegedly committed in an organised manner. In addition to those charged, two other suspects were detained as well. jrg