MORNING NEWS HIGHLIGHTS - Thursday, 12 March 2026 - 9 a.m.

TASR brings a quick morning overview of the most important events seen in Slovakia on the previous day (Wednesday, 11 March): BRATISLAVA – A parliamentary probe at the Firefighter and Emergency Service (HaZZ) on Wednesday confirmed that the Interior Ministry is proceeding properly with the modernisation process, said Deputy Interior Minister Lucia Kurilovska (Voice-SD) after the inspection. According to Kurilovska, the ministry is acting professionally, transparently and in line with the law. "Lawmakers were given access to contractual documentation during the inspection at the HaZZ Presidium and were provided with information on the technical condition of the delivered vehicles. They were also allowed to conduct a visual inspection of one of the AHZS 1B Scania vehicles," she said. Kurilovska added that 39 vehicles had been delivered by Wednesday. "The delivery of all 80 AHZS 1B vehicles is planned by the end of June 2026," she noted. The deputy minister pointed out that the entire procurement process has been reviewed by the Public Procurement Office. "The result of the inspection, delivered on 8 April 2025, clearly confirmed that the ministry proceeded properly and that all legal requirements were met," she added. PEZINOK - The Specialised Criminal Court (STS) in Pezinok (Bratislava region) won't refer a pre-judicial question to the Court of Justice of the EU concerning the admissibility of evidence extracted from seized mobile phones, senate chair Miroslav Mazuch announced at the main hearing in the case of those accused of ordering the murder of journalist Jan Kuciak and planning the murders of prosecutors on Wednesday. The motion to submit a pre-judicial question was filed by Marek Para, a lawyer of defendant Marian K. [name abbreviated due to legal reasons]. STS in January ruled that communications from the Threema app would be admitted as evidence. Mazuch argued that at the time when the Supreme Court returned the Kuciak murder case to STS a ruling by the Court of Justice of the EU on the admissibility of evidence to which Para had referred already existed. "The court also took into account the fact that at the beginning of the proceedings, when the indictment was delivered in 2019, defendant Marian K. proposed that the case file should be made available to an expert to prepare an expert opinion on communications via the Threema application," he said. According to Mazuch, the articles of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights should not be interpreted in isolation, but also on the basis of the principle of proportionality. "On the one hand, there's the right to respect for private and family life; but on the other, there's the right to life and the related right to an effective investigation. An effective investigation includes, among other things, pursuing all reasonable evidence leading to the clarification of the act under prosecution and enabling the bereaved and aggrieved parties to effectively take part," explained Mazuch. KOSICE/BRATISLAVA – The Constitutional Court will rule on an interpretation of the constitutional law on budgetary responsibility concerning the question of when the government must ask Parliament for a vote of confidence after the public sector debt exceeds the defined proportion of GDP, as the court accepted a motion filed by a group of opposition MPs for further proceedings on Wednesday. Under Slovakia's constitutional 'debt brake' rules, several sanctions are triggered when the public debt rises above specific thresholds, with the most severe including the government's obligation to request a parliamentary vote of confidence. In their submission, the MPs proposed that the court should rule that the government was and remains obliged, after 22 November 2025, to request a vote of confidence from the House at its next parliamentary session. According to the applicants, the government's failure to request such a vote during the parliamentary session held between 25 November and 12 December 2025 "constitutes a violation of the principles of parliamentary democracy, the political responsibility of the executive branch and the rule of law in their substantive meanings". The motion seeking interpretation of the law was submitted by a group of MPs represented by Lucia Plavakova (Progressive Slovakia). BRATISLAVA – The opposition Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) currently sees no justified reason to introduce a new legal institution referred to as a 'state of alert', as proposed by President Peter Pellegrini and Defence Minister Robert Kalinak (Smer-SD), TASR learnt from KDH's press department on Wednesday. KDH considers the proposal to be unnecessary, noting that the state already has sufficient tools to respond to terrorism. The opposition Progressive Slovakia (PS) also has questions about the need for the proposed legislative change but says that it's ready to assess the proposal constructively. KDH pointed out that the Slovak armed forces already have sufficient and clear legal tools to intervene in the event of serious security threats, including in the fight against terrorism. According to the party, the government is therefore already able to act fully in crises. Because of this, arguments are lacking to explain why new legislation is needed beyond the laws already in force, and KDH sees the proposal rather as a reason for concern due to an excessive concentration of power in a single ministry. BRATISLAVA - The government on Wednesday agreed to reject the 2024 revision of the World Health Organization's (WHO) International Health Regulations (IHR) based on a resolution submitted by the Health Ministry citing potential doubts in terms of human rights and the Constitution, while also relying on opinions of several law faculties at Slovak universities. "Alternative solutions were considered, with Slovakia having four options: not to notify, whereby the revision would automatically enter into force for the Slovak Republic on 19 September 2026; or to notify a rejection, a reservation, or to submit a declaration for the purpose of postponing the entry into force of the IHR 2024 by 12 months. Given the doubts from a human rights and constitutional perspective, the Health Ministry has submitted this document with the aim of notifying a rejection," stated the ministry. The ministry explained that last year the government tasked Health Minister Kamil Sasko (Voice-SD), Justice Minister Boris Susko, and Foreign Minister Juraj Blanar (both Smer-SD) with examining the technical and legal aspects of adopting or rejecting the regulations. As regards health care, no risks have been identified by the Health Ministry, which, however, asked Comenius University in Bratislava, Matej Bel University in Banska Bystrica, and Pavol Jozef Safarik University in Kosice to prepare independent legal opinions. BRATISLAVA - Slovnaft will maintain self-regulation of fuel prices for the next five days, and its representatives will then meet the government again to assess the situation in connection with the military conflict in Iran and the Druzhba oil pipeline and agree on how to proceed, said Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) following the cabinet meeting on Wednesday, which was also attended by President Peter Pellegrini and Slovnaft representatives. According to the premier, the government's goal is to make fuel in Slovakia cheaper than in Austria and comparable in price with the other V4 (Visegrad Four) countries (the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland). The prime minister stressed that Slovnaft is under enormous pressure. "We now have to think about what we'll do in the next few days. We've agreed that Slovnaft will maintain self-regulation for five days. That means that if today is Wednesday, we have Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We'll meet again on Monday or Tuesday. We'll see how the military conflict develops, what the situation is in the Strait of Hormuz, and what's happening with the Druzhba oil pipeline. And we'll discuss whether we'll continue with self-regulation or take certain measures," he stated. BRATISLAVA - At this moment, the government is taking all possible steps, both domestically and internationally, to slow down the potential increase in fuel prices as much as possible, or to ensure that the increase in Slovakia is less significant than in neighbouring countries, and the cabinet has the situation fully under control for the next few days, stated President Peter Pellegrini after taking part in the government meeting on Wednesday. The head of state added that he's prepared to help if necessary, but he also criticised the opposition, from which he expects a constructive approach, not an attempt to misuse the situation. "I'm very pleased that the government is currently trying to use all technical tools to stabilise and halt extreme growth in fuel prices in Slovakia and isn't immediately resorting to the populist use of significant amounts of financial resources from the state budget," said Pellegrini, adding that the cabinet is working with Slovnaft to find common ground, with both sides trying to find a solution so that Slovakia isn't significantly affected by the rise in fuel prices. jrg