MORNING NEWS HIGHLIGHTS - Friday, 17 April 2026 - 9 a.m.

TASR brings a quick morning overview of the most important events seen in Slovakia on the previous day (Thursday, 16 April): BRATISLAVA - A collision between a passenger train and a lorry at a level crossing in the town of Dunajska Streda (Trnava region) on Thursday claimed the life of the lorry driver, the Fire and Rescue Corps (HaZZ) has informed TASR. There were several people on board the train, of whom 21 sustained minor injuries. The collision resulted in the train derailment and a diesel leak. The traffic accident took place shortly before 9.15 a.m. on Thursday. "Firefighters from the Dunajska Streda and Velky Meder (Trnava region) fire stations, together with voluntary firemen from the town of Gabcikovo and the village of Orechova Poton, are currently responding at the scene," reported HaZZ. The road in the affected section is currently impassable. An EKOS technical vehicle is also heading to the scene due to the diesel leak. Private passenger rail carrier Leo Express has told TASR that the accident concerned the REX 1433 train. "Our priority is to ensure the safety of passengers and the crew on board. Emergency services were called immediately. According to preliminary information, some 20 minor injuries occurred, caused by broken glass. One female passenger has a head injury," said the Leo Express spokessman Emil Sedlarik. BRATISLAVA - The opposition Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party is filing a criminal complaint in connection with a suspicious purchase of fire trucks by the Interior Ministry, party representatives told a news conference on Thursday. According to SaS, there are serious suspicions of violations of the law, inefficient use of public funds, and a possible corruption scheme. MP Juraj Krupa (SaS) stressed that the fight against corruption is a key task of the opposition. According to him, Slovakia is paying the price for the government's mismanagement. The key findings, according to Krupa, stemmed from an MPs' survey conducted on 11 March. "We have uncovered new facts and evidence. A specific invoice is available to us, showing that a payment for the fire truck was made to a company other than the supplier. This raises serious suspicions of a breach of the law and possible incitement to fraud," he said. SaS also pointed to an overpriced purchase. "The same vehicles were purchased in the Czech Republic for a maximum of €400,000. In Slovakia, we are buying them for €580,000. The difference is huge and unexplained," said the MP. BRATISLAVA - Around 60,000 illegal migrants arrived in Slovakia in 2022 and 2023, marking record figures in the country's history, the Interior Ministry stated on Thursday, attributing responsibility to a former interior minister and a former police president. The ministry responded this way to statements by Slovak politicians referring to Hungarian election winner Peter Magyar, who spoke about the practices of the previous Hungarian government with respect to illegal migration. "Seizing on the words of Hungary's future prime minister by the Slovak opposition is merely a weak attempt to cover up their own incompetence and the mistakes made by the former government while in power," the ministry said. It added that instead of addressing citizens' security, the previous government downplayed the situation. According to the ministry, the previous government's lack of consistency and leniency encouraged smugglers and contributed to Slovakia becoming part of an illegal migration route. It also believes tools under the law on the residence of foreigners were effectively abandoned at the time. "If there was an influx of illegal migrants, they should have dealt with it when they were in power. Instead, they failed to manage the situation, did not address it, and today, as always, try to look for someone else to blame. The truth is simple – all they should do is admit their own mistake and acknowledge that it was they who failed to handle illegal migration. Through their passivity, they endangered the safety of Slovakia's residents," the ministry noted. BRATISLAVA - Slovakia will not support another European Union sanctions package against Russia if the Druzhba oil pipeline is not operational, Foreign and European Affairs Minister Juraj Blanar (Smer-SD) stated in Parliament during Thursday's question time. Blanar also signalled readiness to block the sanctions package after Thursday's meeting of the parliamentary Committee for European Affairs. "If the Druzhba pipeline is not put into operation and the approval of the 20th package is on the table, we will not approve it, because we have no other tools to force Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, together with the European Commission, to restore Druzhba," the minister declared in Parliament. Blanar also responded to questions regarding a possible blocking of an EU loan to Ukraine, underlining that Slovakia is not blocking it. He pointed that Slovakia has decided not to support the loan from the outset, and that Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary agreed on an exemption under which they will not join common guarantees or interest repayments. "We negotiated an exemption, and the loan approved in this way was endorsed by Slovakia, represented by our prime minister, and nothing changes on that," he added. The disbursement of the loan had previously been blocked by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban due to the suspension of Russian oil supplies via the Druzhba pipeline. BRATISLAVA - The opposition's 'Slovakia' party has filed a criminal complaint with the Prosecutor-General's Office against Prime Minister Robert Fico, Defence Minister Robert Kalinak (both Smer-SD), and Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok (Voice-SD) over serious suspicion that the migration crisis may have been deliberately misused ahead of the 2023 parliamentary elections in cooperation with representatives of a foreign power. The party announced this at a press conference on Thursday, saying it was responding to statements by Hungarian election winner Peter Magyar, who spoke about the practices of the previous Hungarian government after winning elections. "Several months before the elections, we saw a sharp increase in illegal migration in Slovakia. Robert Fico exploited this in the campaign — he spread fear, visited locations with migrants, filmed videos and claimed the state was failing," said former interior minister (2020-23) and MP Roman Mikulec ('Slovakia'-For the People). At the time, he said, there were suspicions that the situation had not arisen spontaneously. According to Mikulec, if someone knowingly cooperates with a foreign power to create a security crisis in their own country, it raises suspicions of sabotage and even treason. BRATISLAVA - Slovakia has received its first delivery of the ordered Barak MX air defence system, with the first battery already deployed at an undisclosed location, Defence Minister Robert Kalinak (Smer-SD) reported on Thursday. "It is a somewhat more complicated issue for me to explain precisely, as there have been significant delays in the production of these systems," the minister noted. Kalinak said the battery of the Israeli system is located at a certain "point of intersection between our nuclear power plants". He added that weapons system experts will arrive in Slovakia, whereas Slovak soldiers have already completed part of their training. According to Kalinak, Slovakia has had the battery for approximately ten days. The system will take several weeks to become fully operational. All six batteries should be delivered to Slovakia by 2030. The Defence Ministry ordered the Barak MX air defence system from Israel at the end of 2024. Originally, the first battery was expected to arrive in Slovakia at the turn of 2025 and 2026, but the delivery was delayed, also due to the war in Iran. BRATISLAVA - The largest coalition party Smer-SD rejects criticism from the opposition's Freedom and Solidarity (SaS), which claims that a poor business environment and failed public finance consolidation are driving companies out of Slovakia. The latest case cited is the gradual relocation of production from the Figaro plant in Trnava to Rohatec in the Czech Republic. According to Smer-SD MPs, the blame lies with the current opposition, which handed over government in 2023 with the worst public finances in the EU. "To begin with, I would like to say that today the loudest critics are people like Branislav Groehling or Marian Viskupic (both SaS), who chaired the parliamentary committee for budget and finance in the previous government. They caused this chaos in the first place. Today they are obscuring their own problems and trying to create the impression that this government is responsible for all the chaos," said Smer-SD MP Daniel Karas. According to Karas, the government is currently working to rectify the situation and stabilise the economy. As an example of success, he cited food inflation in 2025, which, excluding sweetened beverages, stood at 1.7 percent, the fourth lowest in the EU. He compared this with food inflation approaching 20 percent in 2022, when the COVID-19 pandemic was subsiding and the war in Ukraine began. Average overall inflation in 2025 was 4 percent. jrg