MORNING NEWS HIGHLIGHTS - Wednesday, 18 March 2026 - 9 a.m.

TASR brings a quick morning overview of the most important events seen in Slovakia on the previous day (Tuesday, 17 March): BRATISLAVA - Fuel prices in Slovakia should be roughly at the same level as those in the other Visegrad Four (V4) countries [the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland] in the coming weeks and significantly cheaper than in Austria, stated Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) after the government's meeting with representatives of the Slovnaft refinery on Tuesday. "We want to be at a comparable level within the V4, and as far as Austria is concerned, we want to be cheaper," said Fico, adding that this is currently the case. However, lower fuel prices are also starting to cause problems, he noted. "Today, Slovnaft representatives warned us of a situation in some northern districts of Slovakia, where, due to diesel being significantly cheaper than in Poland, mass purchases have been reported, and not just into fuel tanks," said Fico. According to the prime minister, the government has agreed with Slovnaft that any refuelling limits will remain at the discretion of retailers. However, the government might consider adopting a regulation to introduce higher diesel prices for foreign drivers. "Foreigners will have to buy diesel at a price that may correspond to the one in their home country; in other words, there will be a completely different price. We can do that. The applicable legislation allows us to do so, and legal experts are now assessing whether we'll adopt such a regulation," added Fico. BRATISLAVA – The main reason why Tibor Gaspar (Smer-SD) should be ousted from the post of parliamentary vice-chair is concern that he could misuse his position to assist himself in his criminal case, stated opposition Progressive Slovakia (PS) party leader Michal Simecka in the run-up to a special parliamentary session with a motion to oust Gaspar on Tuesday. Simecka also stressed that there's a need to dismiss Gaspar in order to protect the dignity of Parliament. In his view, the post of vice-chair cannot be held by a person charged with serious criminal activity. "It is both an effort to protect the good name of Parliament and a justified concern that Tibor Gaspar will increasingly misuse his post as vice-chair to help himself in his criminal case. We've already had the opportunity to observe this over the past two years," said Simecka at a press conference in Parliament on Tuesday. Simecka pointed out that most recently, in December 2025, Gaspar defended legislative changes regarding the acceptance of the testimonies of so-called cooperating defendants. Simecka considers this to be a conflict of interest. According to him, Gaspar is misusing his position, media access and the ability to speak at any time in Parliament. "Tibor Gaspar has submitted 21 proposals to the House over two and a half years. Of these, zero have helped people in Slovakia and 21 have been aimed at dismantling the rule of law and democracy, intimidating opponents, intimidating critics or otherwise restricting and changing the rules of criminal proceedings," said MP Zuzana Mesterova (Progressive Slovakia). Her party colleague Zuzana Stevulova added that Gaspar's real role in Parliament isn't to serve the public, the public interest or Slovakia. "His task is to get himself and his associates off charges and escape justice," she said. Simecka doesn't expect that the special emergency session on the motion to dismiss Gaspar will take place. He assumes that coalition MPs won't approve its agenda "because Tibor Gaspar won't find the courage to defend himself in the parliamentary plenary". The session was scheduled to take place at 13:30 on Tuesday . House vice-chair and former police president Tibor Gaspar is facing criminal charges, among others, in the Purgatory case. BRATISLAVA – Lawmakers didn't debate the proposal to remove Tibor Gaspar (Smer-SD) from the post of parliamentary vice-chair at a special emergency session on Tuesday, as the session's agenda wasn't approved. The dismissal attempt was initiated by the opposition Progressive Slovakia (PS) party, which expressed concerns that Gaspar might be misusing his parliamentary role to advance measures to assist himself in his own criminal case or "criminal proceedings against persons in his close circle". PS argued that Gaspar's removal was necessary to protect the dignity of Parliament, adding that a person accused of serious criminal activity cannot hold the post of House vice-chair. BRATISLAVA – 'Operation Cooperating Defendant' in March marked the culmination of years of work by the Internal Affairs Inspectorate (UIS), with the case concerning suspicions of the misuse of criminal law tools, said UIS Veritas specialised team leader Juraj Lukac at a press conference on Tuesday. According to Lukac, the indictment resolution is 133 pages long and "full of facts and linked evidence". The case file currently totals approximately 23,000 pages in the ongoing criminal proceedings. Lukac emphasised that the specialised team doesn't act based on political statements or media commentary. All those being prosecuted have worked on high-profile corruption cases in the past. "Several individuals have testified about suspected criminal activity by members of the former National Criminal Agency [NAKA] in various proceedings since at least 2020. In 2021, the currently co-accused J. K. [name abbreviated due to legal reasons] began testifying about these facts," said Lukac. He added that the Veritas team was set up in response to dozens of criminal complaints and submissions pointing to possible unlawful procedures in multiple criminal cases. "The detention operation codenamed Cooperating Defendant was the culmination of years of work by UIS investigators, operatives and analysts," he underlined. Lukac said that at this stage it's possible to speak of suspicions of evidence manipulation and irregularities in the course of evidence-taking in several criminal proceedings. "The investigation is based on concrete facts and documentary evidence, in particular identified differences in the content of certain procedural documents, inconsistencies between various versions of documents, as well as the circumstances of their creation," he added. Lukac emphasised that the detention operation was planned and carried out with regard to the dignity of those detained and with respect for their families. Deputy director of UIS and head of its inspection unit Milan Maskara rejected several claims made in recent days about UIS and the Veritas team. He dismissed criticism alleging unlawful conduct by the inspectorate and denied that UIS deals only with cases involving members of the former National Criminal Agency. "UIS doesn't have bloodshot eyes," he said. At the beginning of March, UIS detained and charged several current and former police officers, as well as a prosecutor of the Prosecutor-General's Office, Michal S., as part of Operation Cooperating Defendant. The charges include extortion and misuse of power by a public official, allegedly committed in an organised manner. In addition to those charged, two suspects were also detained. The operation took place in Bratislava, Nitra and Banska Bystrica regions. A prosecutor of the Regional Prosecutor's Office in Trnava filed a motion to remand the accused Jan C. and Pavol D. in custody, but the courts ruled that they would be prosecuted at liberty, stating among other things that the motion had been filed with a court lacking jurisdiction and also that the charges lacked justification. Pavol D. denied that the accused have committed any criminal activity and underlined that all of their actions were lawful and part of their job. On Tuesday, Prosecutor-General Maros Zilinka decided that the case will be reassigned to the Regional Prosecutor's Office in Banska Bystrica. BRATISLAVA - Addressing the repeal of the law intended to transform the Whistleblowers Protection Office (UOO) into a new agency via an amendment to the Criminal Code was the simplest option in terms of timing, head of the coalition Voice-SD parliamentary caucus Robert Puci told reporters in Parliament on Tuesday. Puci pointed out that the amendment to the Criminal Code is at its second reading in Parliament, and the law concerning the protection of whistleblowers could thus be scrapped during the current session. At the same time, however, Puci hopes this will be one of the last such amendments in this legislative term. "We couldn't have done it any other way. We need to repeal it as soon as possible because we're under pressure from the European Union [EU], which is pushing us to repeal this originally approved bill. This is because they won't only refuse to reimburse us but will also demand that we return all payments made so far from the recovery plan," he stated, adding that he believes that the EU took this step due to pressure from the opposition. "Our colleagues in the opposition went to Brussels so often that they eventually banned us from doing this, or rather told us they would cancel our payments from the recovery plan, so we've withdrawn it for now," he said. Parliamentary Vice-chairman Tibor Gaspar (Smer-SD) also claims that the coalition decided to scrap the law due to the actions of the European Commission (EC). "We're being pragmatic. If this is going to be a problem for the EC in implementing the recovery plan, let's take it off the table," he stated, adding that no new legislation regarding changes to whistleblowers protection is currently being prepared. BRATISLAVA - The debate on the amendment to the Criminal Code in Parliament was concluded on Tuesday evening. This was done at the suggestion of Parliamentary Chair Richard Rasi (Voice-SD). Not all registered speakers were able to take the floor during the debate; eight more had registered to speak. The amendment to the Criminal Code aims to introduce a new criminal offence of damaging war graves, military graves and Holocaust memorials. Coalition lawmakers submitted several amendments to it, with one of them seeking to repeal the law that was intended to transform the Whistleblowers Protection Office (UOO) into a new agency. mf