MORNING NEWS HIGHLIGHTS - Tuesday, 26 May 2026 - 9 a.m.

TASR brings a quick morning overview of the most important events seen in Slovakia on the previous day (Monday, 25 May): BRATISLAVA - Slovak National Party (SNS) leader Andrej Danko is insisting that Environment Minister Tomas Taraba (a Slovak National Party/SNS nominee) should be dismissed. Danko told journalists following the Coalition Council session on Monday that he wants to submit an official proposal for Taraba's dismissal to Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) on Tuesday (26 May). Danko noted that politics is also about making compromises. According to him, he and Taraba have exchanged and accepted several arguments and are trying to find a constructive solution. They want to resolve the situation politically within a week. Danko also declared that the functioning of Parliament will be problem-free. "I want to make it clear to all of you that, at this moment, I'm not changing my stance regarding the vice-premier [Taraba], and after yesterday's statements I cannot change it. Anyway, I've also agreed on a working meeting with the vice-premier. Our proposal for dismissal is definitive and final. Of course, politics is about making compromises. Many of the things that we discussed today perhaps should have been spoken about earlier, but I want to assure you that Vice-premier Taraba and I are trying to find a constructive way out of this situation while keeping the government functional," said the SNS leader. BRATISLAVA - The Nuclear Regulatory Authority (UJD) issued a decision on Friday (22 May) authorising the commissioning of a fourth reactor block at the Mochovce nuclear power plant (NPP). The decision is currently being sent via public notice to the parties to the proceedings, the authorities concerned and the public, UJD has announced on its website. The decision will be published for a period of 15 days on the Central Official Electronic Board, on the Central General Government Website, on UJD's official board located at the entrance to the authority's headquarters, on the electronic notice board of UJD's website and on temporary official notice boards in selected municipalities. Slovakia's dominant power producer Slovenske elektrarne last reported on the progress of the construction work on the fourth reactor block of Mochovce NPP last spring, when a hot hydrotest was launched at the facility. The third reactor block of Mochovce NPP was put into operation in autumn 2023. The timing of fuel loading into the fourth block and of its actual commissioning is still not clear. The date will partly depend on potential appeals against this decision. BRATISLAVA - If political trust between the coalition Slovak National Party (SNS) and its nominee, Environment Minister Tomas Taraba, is not restored by the end of September 2026, there will be a personnel change at the level of minister and vice-premier, stated Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) following Monday's meeting of the top three constitutional officials, adding that he hopes that this trust will be restored and an internally stable partner within the coalition will be maintained. The premier also stated that Monday's meeting of the coalition council was constructive and that representatives of the governing coalition confirmed their interest in continuing and making full use of the electoral term until its final day. "I must respect the fact that the Environment Ministry is a ministry that, according to the coalition agreement, falls under the political control of SNS, and Mr. Taraba is a nominee of the Slovak National Party. Likewise, I must respect - because pacta sunt servanda, agreements must be kept - that according to the coalition agreement, if a coalition partner requests the replacement of its nominee in a ministry under its political control, as stipulated by the coalition agreement (although it doesn't supersede the Constitution), the prime minister is obliged to submit a proposal to the president for such a change," he said. BRATISLAVA - Constitutional Court judge Jana Baricova, whose term is ending, is interested in continuing in her post until a successor is found, Parliamentary Chair Richard Rasi (Voice-SD) stated in response to a journalist's question at a press conference on Monday, adding that Parliament hasn't yet reached an agreement on the nomination of the 13th judge, a post that remains vacant in the Constitutional Court. "As for the 13th judge to fill the vacancy left by former judge Jana Lassakova, no agreement has been reached yet. So for now, there will be 12 constitutional judges, and until a decision is made on who will be nominated in a way that gives them a chance to be confirmed, this election won't take place," stated Rasi. The term of office for a Constitutional Court judge is 12 years. Jana Baricova has held the post since 10 July 2014. The law states that a Constitutional Court judge remains in office even after their term ends until a new Constitutional Court judge is sworn in. BRATISLAVA - If no agreement is reached with the Slovak National Party (SNS) by the end of September, its nominee, Tomas Taraba - who heads the Environment Ministry and also serves as vice-premier - will step down from his post, TASR learnt from Taraba's post on social media on Monday. According to him, Monday's meeting with Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) and SNS chairman Andrej Danko took place in a "fairly constructive atmosphere". Taraba said that no objections were raised regarding his management of the ministry or the results of his work. However, he noted that SNS has reservations, which he believes are not of a professional but rather a political nature. He acknowledged that "harmony" is necessary. If there's no agreement or common ground regarding the overall functioning of the ministry, or if SNS deems the political representation inadequate and Taraba doesn't feel that he has the support of SNS in his professional activities, "I'll quite logically step down, because working in such an important post truly requires support - if not from someone else, then at least from the governing coalition". Taraba expects that they'll meet again in the next few days. "We'll try to find common ground to see if there's compatibility. Otherwise, what I said stands," he added. BRATISLAVA - Based on Monday's meeting of the coalition council, the government doesn't anticipate any problems at the upcoming parliamentary session in approving government- or coalition-sponsored bills on which agreement has been reached, stated House Chair Richard Rasi (Voice-SD) and Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD). Similarly, President Peter Pellegrini stated after Monday's meeting of the three highest constitutional officials that the governing coalition is determined to debate its entire agenda at the session as planned. "Based on information from the House chair, it appears that we shouldn't expect any major problems with the debate on Parliament's agenda," stated Pellegrini, adding that he believes the change in the rules of procedure will improve the level of political debate, which, in his view, has become increasingly heated in recent days. He called for calm in political and media statements and for the huge level of tension in society to ease. Rasi explained that parliamentary proceedings will begin on Tuesday with nearly 190 items on the agenda. "We're starting under new rules of procedure, and I can say that even after the coalition council meeting, we don't anticipate any problems in passing bills, sponsored by the government or coalition. And I believe that, just as at previous parliamentary sessions, it will once again become clear that the parliamentary majority has 78 votes, and that government bills, as well as coalition-backed bills on which consensus has been reached, will be approved by Parliament," he said, adding that he believes the new rules of procedure will eliminate aggression and bring about civility and objective debate. BRATISLAVA - The goal of Progressive Slovakia (PS) and its MEPs is to cause harm, representatives of Smer-SD concurred at a press conference on Monday. They were also responding to a resolution in which the European Parliament called on the European Commission to assess possible serious violations of the European Union's fundamental values by the Slovak government. Parliamentary Vice-Chair Tibor Gaspar (Smer-SD) stated that the adoption of the resolution against Slovakia "is part of a manipulation of public opinion to the detriment of the governing parties" with the aim of influencing the election campaign and public opinion in favour of Progressive Slovakia. Gaspar claimed that it would be blatant if PS MEPs came and inserted texts into the resolution against Slovakia themselves, so they found people to do it for them. He pointed to Czech MEP Tomas Zdechovsky and German MEP Daniel Freund. During the press conference, Gaspar refuted some of the claims made in the resolution, calling them false and misleading. As an example, he cited the transformation of the National Crime Agency (NAKA) into the Office for Combating Organised Crime (UBOK). "All of those units - the so-called specialised units for combating corruption, organised crime, and financial crime, and thus also for protecting the financial interests of the European Communities - are also part of the structure of this UBOK. Just because someone changes the name of an institution doesn't mean they've scrapped it," stressed Gaspar. jrg