MORNING NEWS HIGHLIGHTS - Wednesday, 1 April 2026 - 9 a.m.

TASR brings a quick morning overview of the most important events seen in Slovakia on the previous day (Tuesday, 31 March): PRAGUE/BRATISLAVA – Czech President Petr Pavel welcomed the resumption of intergovernmental consultations between the Czech and Slovak cabinets, but pointed out that the memorandum signed by the prime ministers of Slovakia and the Czech Republic after Tuesday's meeting contains nothing new, TASR's special correspondent in Prague reported on the same day. Speaking to journalists after meeting Czech Olympians and Paralympians at Prague Castle, Pavel said it was positive that relations between the two countries were returning to normal, including regular government sessions. "I think it is good that relations between our countries return to normal, with governments meeting again. Whether it brings anything beyond what we have done so far, I am not entirely sure. When I read the memorandum, there was nothing completely new that had not already been happening at the level of individuals, organisations or governments. In any case, it is good that governments are meeting," Pavel said, commenting on the resumption of joint cabinet sessions after a hiatus of three years. The last planned intergovernmental consultations, scheduled for late April and early May 2024, did not take place. The then-Czech government of Petr Fiala suspended them, citing disagreement with some steps taken by the Slovak government in foreign policy, particularly regarding Slovakia's stance on the war in Ukraine. Before that, the two governments last met in April 2023 in Trencin. A total of eight such joint sessions have been held so far. Former Czech foreign minister Jan Lipavsky told the Czech public broadcaster on Tuesday that although joint meetings were suspended during their time in office, it did not mean the countries stopped cooperating on specific agendas. "We cooperated, for example, on an intergovernmental agreement on healthcare cooperation, police cooperation was updated, and the foreign ministries also signed a memorandum. I fully understand Petr Fiala's position that he did not want to face today's statements by Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, and I support that," Lipavsky said. Earlier in the day, Prime Ministers Robert Fico and Andrej Babis signed a memorandum on enhanced cooperation between the Czech and Slovak governments, as well as another on cooperation in the peaceful use of energy. In addition, Slovak Economy Minister Denisa Sakova and Czech Minister of Industry and Trade Karel Havlicek signed a memorandum on shared responsibility for gas storage in facilities located in the Czech village of Dolni Bojanovice. BRATISLAVA - According to a flash estimate of inflation measured by the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP), the overall price level remained unchanged in March, but this pushed the year-over-year inflation rate down to 3.7 percent, said analyst at Slovakia's central bank (NBS) Branislav Karmazin, on Tuesday, adding that compared to the expectations of the spring forecast, it was lower by roughly half a percentage point, mainly due to food prices. "Food prices, along with tobacco products - which Eurostat doesn't report separately in its flash estimate - deepened the previous significant month-over-month decline in March. After a 0.6-percent decline in February, they fell by as much as 1 percent in March, marking the largest monthly drop in food prices in March since joining the eurozone," said the analyst. According to Karmazin, two consecutive monthly declines in food prices likely offset the significant price increases seen at the beginning of the year. "Another explanation for the atypical March trend could be more significant pre-Easter price adjustments. From a historical perspective, the first three months thus brought atypical, even extreme, price fluctuations," he added. Despite the decline in March, NBS expects food price growth to accelerate in the coming months to levels closer to the spring forecast, mainly due to higher agricultural commodity prices and the transfer of higher energy costs to consumer prices. The attack on Iran, which caused a sharp rise in energy commodity prices, has so far had a smaller impact on inflation than in neighbouring countries or other eurozone members. Energy prices in Slovakia rose by 0.7 percent in March compared to February, according to a flash estimate, likely as a result of the government's efforts to curb fuel price increases. Petrol and diesel prices thus don't yet fully reflect the disruption in oil supplies on global markets caused by the ongoing conflict in the Persian Gulf. According to European Commission data, current prices at petrol stations are, on average, lower than in neighbouring countries. BRATISLAVA – A protest march by the cultural community titled 'Great Cultural Mobilisation! Like Never Before' is taking place in Bratislava on Tuesday evening. Organisers from the Open Culture platform describe the current state of the culture sector as a crisis, and criticise the Ministry of Culture for failing to fulfil its role for the past two and a half years. "Instead of supporting culture, it silences inconvenient voices, carries out mass dismissals and strips organisations and projects of their remaining funds," the platform said about the march. According to them, this threatens all cultural workers, from lighting technicians, cloakroom attendants and technical staff to writers, actors and producers. The organisers claim that everything the culture sector is meant to protect is deteriorating. In addition, they question the effectiveness of how funds allocated to culture are being used. BRATISLAVA - I've asked Slovak Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) to lift Slovakia's state of emergency concerning oil, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis announced at a joint press briefing following a meeting of the two countries' cabinets at Nova Horka Castle in the Czech Republic on Tuesday. Fico promised him that the oil emergency will be lifted as soon as certain conditions are met. "We want MOL's Bratislava refinery to be operating at 100-percent capacity and MOL's Hungarian refinery to be operating at 100-percent capacity as well; this is important for the entire region. And I asked the prime minister for Slovakia to end the oil emergency, because this naturally affects us," stated Babis, emphasising that this is a pan-European problem. "But we can't wait for the European Commission because, unfortunately, it doesn't even take our comments into account when it comes to energy measures as such," he added. The Slovak prime minister responded by saying that Slovakia had to declare an oil emergency because the law requires such a procedure. "If the state wants to lend its oil reserves, it must declare a state of emergency concerning oil. We've allocated a certain volume that is available to the Slovnaft refinery. The refinery drew from this volume, which made it possible to ensure fuel production in Bratislava, which is vital," said Fico, adding that oil is gradually beginning to return to Slovakia's state reserves. "Therefore, once these storage facilities, which fall under the control of the state material reserves, are refilled, there will be no reason to maintain the state of emergency concerning oil," he declared. Fico also said that the government regulation that introduced dual diesel prices and set limits will expire after 30 days. Regarding the issue of dual pricing, Babis noted that it would be better to address the problem on a regional level. "Slovakia has decided to do so. They are in a different situation because Slovakia gets 100 percent of its fuel supply from the refinery in Bratislava, while we import 30 percent of our fuel, so I think we've agreed in some way on how we'll proceed together," he said. On 18 March, the Slovak government adopted measures by decree to limit diesel fuel consumption during the oil emergency. Diesel fuel may only be purchased for the vehicle's tank and one container with a maximum capacity of ten litres. Refuelling is limited to €400 per vehicle. The government has also restricted the export of diesel fuel from Slovakia on a temporary basis. BRATISLAVA - Bratislava Regional Court has ruled that former House chair (2020-23) Boris Kollar (We Are Family) must issue a public apology to police officer Jan Curilla for his statement about the 'Curilla mafia' and pay €50,000 in non-pecuniary damages, as well as full legal costs, TASR reported on Tuesday based on a post published on a social network by Curilla's attorney Peter Kubina. By its decision, the court dismissed the defendant's appeal and upheld the verdict handed down by Bratislava IV City Court over a year ago. According to Kubina, the verdict will become final once served to both parties. "We trust that the defendant will now settle this voluntarily, without us needing to enforce the judgment through a distraint procedure. The first-instance court's verdict was exceptionally well reasoned, so even switching lawyers for the appeal didn't help the defendant. We also appreciate the fact that the appellate court dealt with the appeal quite quickly," stated Kubina. On 21 February 2025, Kubina confirmed that Bratislava IV City Court had ruled in Curilla's favour, as it found Kollar's statement about the 'Curilla mafia' slanderous and a violation of Curilla's good reputation as well as indirectly those of his colleagues from the former National Crime Agency (NAKA). At that time, Kollar's attorney conceded that he might appeal against the verdict. mf