MORNING NEWS HIGHLIGHTS - Friday, 3 April 2026 - 9 a.m.

TASR brings a quick morning overview of the most important events seen in Slovakia on the previous day (Thursday, 2 April): BRATISLAVA - President Peter Pellegrini has called on Finance Minister Ladislav Kamenicky (Smer-SD) to be bold in supporting the future growth of the Slovak economy. The president stated this at a briefing following a meeting with Economy Minister Denisa Sakova (Voice-SD) on Thursday. "In the near future, the government will face the enormous task of presenting to the Slovak public, Slovak entrepreneurs and the business community as a whole a package of pro-growth measures that will have a positive impact on the economy despite negative global trends. The measures should encourage companies to reinvest and upgrade their technologies, and attract other major investors who will contribute to economic growth," he said. The head of state announced that Sakova presented him with "a comprehensive document summarising all possible measures across various sectors, from the labour market to investments and energy". "These aren't just measures from the Economy Ministry," he stated. "The finance minister will play a key role, as he'll ultimately have to decide which of the pro-growth measures the governing coalition will be able to agree upon. "I therefore want to call on the finance minister to find the courage, when preparing the 2027 general government budget and also when adopting pro-growth measures, to think long term," emphasised Pellegrini. According to the president, the finance minister should have the courage to propose measures that may cause a shortfall in state budget revenues next year but will have a vision of sound measures that will kick-start economic growth in the coming years, while revenue shortfalls will be repaid to the state many times over; for example, via taxes. Sakova announced that measures to support Slovakia's economic growth will be presented to the coalition council next Wednesday, 8 April. According to her, the measures should address issues such as improving the business environment, the area of taxes and levies, and investment support. "The coalition will then discuss the specific measures. We'll also share the summary document with representatives of the Slovak business sector in order to craft a mix of measures that will help the Slovak economy during this difficult period," she added. "These aren't just initiatives from the Economy Ministry; they also include initiatives and constructive proposals provided by the Slovak Academy of Sciences, the Faculty of National Economy at the University of Economics, and various employer associations," she stressed. "I firmly believe that the government will succeed in finding a set of measures that can be applied to the Slovak economy in the short and medium term and that they will help the Slovak economy survive this challenging geopolitical period," added the economy minister. BRATISLAVA - Slovak citizens don't have to worry about fuel shortages at the moment, stated President Peter Pellegrini on Thursday following a meeting with Vice-premier and Economy Minister Denisa Sakova (Voice-SD), who briefed him on the state of the fuel market. "Based on information from the economy minister, oil supplies to our refinery are secured today, and we have a guarantee that there should be no production outage," he stated. "I also want to commend the government's decision to address short-term disruptions in oil supplies by declaring a state of emergency concerning oil and providing a portion of Slovakia's oil reserves to the Slovnaft refinery," he said. According to the president, he also agrees with the government's decision to introduce different fuel prices for Slovak and foreign citizens. BRATISLAVA - Slovakia fully respects the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia within its internationally recognised borders, said Slovak President Peter Pellegrini in a joint statement after receiving his Georgian counterpart Mikhail Kavelashvili at the Presidential Palace on Thursday. Pellegrini stressed the need to respect the fact that continuing negotiations on EU accession is a sovereign decision for each country. Kavelashvili stated that Georgia supports the original values of the EU when it was founded as a peace project, but in his view European bureaucracy is currently making mistakes. According to him, Georgia must promote its national interests and do its best for fair negotiations. "Bratislava is a place that should serve for meaningful dialogue with partners from all over the world. As part of Slovak diplomacy's efforts to maintain constructive relations in all cardinal directions, I'm very pleased that today we can welcome the Georgian president to Slovakia and share very openly, without any diplomatic scruples, views on developments in domestic and global politics both here and in Georgia," stated Pellegrini. Both countries have a common vision, which is to protect stability and national interests, he added. According to the Slovak head of state, every country has the sovereign right to decide when it will continue accession talks with the Union and how it sees its future within the European perspective. He stated that he and Kavelashvili also spoke about this issue in a very open manner. Pellegrini told the Georgian president that, by joining the EU, Slovakia has become part of the large single European market and part of the developed Western world. BANSKA BYSTRICA – A single judge at the Specialised Criminal Court in Banska Bystrica on Thursday acquitted former judge and current adviser to Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD), lawyer David L. [name abbreviated due to legal reasons], of charges of interfering with judicial independence and indirect corruption. The court ruled that it hadn't been clearly proven that the alleged acts occurred as stated in the indictment. The verdict is not final; the prosecutor has filed an appeal. In his closing statement, the prosecutor proposed a suspended prison sentence of two years, with a probation period of two years. He stressed that key witnesses, former judges who testified against the defendant, are knowledgeable in criminal law and were aware of the consequences if they testified falsely. David L. maintained his innocence, stating that the acts that he was accused of did not occur and could not have objectively taken place. He asked to be acquitted, emphasising that only two isolated testimonies from cooperating defendants, who received benefits in return, were used against him. "There is no evidence, only false testimony from cooperating witnesses," he said, adding that the criminalisation of his case allegedly has a political background. BRATISLAVA - The decision to place one of the three people suspected of being involved in a fire at the LPP Holding arms factory in Pardubice, the Czech Republic in pre-trial custody is now final, as the individual, who was detained in Slovakia, has withdrawn their appeal against a ruling of Bratislava Regional Court, court spokesperson Pavol Adamciak has told TASR. "Bratislava Regional Court, by its resolution of 2 April, acknowledged the withdrawal of the appeal by the person against the decision made by Bratislava Regional Court on 23 March 2026," said Adamciak. He added that the case is currently at the preliminary investigation stage under the Bratislava Regional Prosecutor's Office. BRATISLAVA - If a general election had been held in March, Progressive Slovakia (PS) would have won with 19.1 percent of the vote, followed by the Smer-SD party, supported by 17.1 percent of voters, according to a Focus agency poll conducted for the 360tka news website. A total of eight parties would have entered parliament. The third-largest support would have gone to the far-right Republic party with 10.6 percent of the vote. Also making it to Parliament would have been the 'Slovakia' party (8.5 percent), Voice-SD (8.2 percent), Freedom and Solidarity (SaS, 7.1 percent), the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH, 6.4 percent), and Democrats (5.4 percent). Among the parties that would have stayed outside Parliament were the currently governing Slovak National Party (4.4 percent), the Hungarian Alliance (3.9 percent), and 'We Are Family' (3.6 percent). BRATISLAVA - The special price of diesel that applies to foreign drivers will be increased to €2.063 per litre as of midnight on Friday (3 March), according to an amended decree of the Finance Ministry that was published on Thursday on the slov-lex.sk website. Over the past week, the regulated price for vehicles registered abroad has been €2.012 per litre. The special price for diesel has been in effect in Slovakia since 23 March as part of measures introduced during the state of emergency concerning oil declared by the government. The oil emergency could be lifted next Wednesday (8 April) if the Slovnaft refinery returns the state oil that it borrowed to the state material reserves, said Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) on Wednesday (1 April). However, this doesn't affect the government regulation on dual pricing and restrictions on diesel purchases, which will be allowed to run until the end of its 30-day period, he added. am