MORNING NEWS HIGHLIGHTS - Monday, 8 June 2026 - 9 a.m.

TASR brings a quick morning overview of the most important events seen in Slovakia on the previous day (Sunday, 7 June): BRATISLAVA - Foreign Affairs Minister Juraj Blanar (Smer-SD) will leave for Kenya and Tanzania on Monday (8 June), the Foreign Affairs Ministry's communications department informed TASR on Sunday. The aim of his five-day visit, which also includes one of the largest Slovak business missions to sub-Saharan Africa, is to strengthen political dialogue, development cooperation, and economic and investment relations. In Nairobi, Kenya, Blanar is scheduled to hold talks with Vice-president Kithure Kindiki and National Assembly Speaker Moses Masika Wetangula. In Tanzania, he will hold bilateral talks with his counterpart Mahmoud Thabit Kombo. "Africa is one of the most dynamically developing regions with growing economic and geopolitical importance, a young population and great development potential. There's also one of the UN's headquarters here, which means further important opportunities within multilateralism for Slovakia. Global South countries are among the priorities of Slovak diplomacy, therefore our goal is to build modern and mutually beneficial partnerships on the African continent as well," stated Blanar. BRATISLAVA - Slovaks should be proud of their ancestors, who showed them the way, and of the fact that they continue to follow that path, President Peter Pellegrini has posted on social media on the occasion of the 165th anniversary of adoption of the Memorandum of the Slovak Nation. "Today, our forebears' desires and wishes have been fulfilled in many ways. Slovaks are free to decide their own future in a sovereign state of their own," wrote the president. "It was a fundamental programme document in which they set out their political and cultural objectives. They knew that the language, education and culture would be crucial to the nation's future," stressed the head of state. The Memorandum of the Slovak Nation is regarded as one of the key documents of the national emancipation process of forming the modern Slovak nation. Sunday marked 165 years since its final wording was adopted. Under the law adopted on 20 October 1993, MPs decided that 7 June will be a commemorative day in Slovakia, known as the Anniversary of the Memorandum of the Slovak Nation. BRATISLAVA - Junior coalition Slovak National Party (SNS) leader and House Vice-chair Andrej Danko has labelled recent statements by Hungarian Premier Peter Magyar suggesting that Hungary borders itself utter nonsense, calling the Hungarian premier politically and historically uneducated. "When I listened to Peter Magyar's statement that Hungary borders Hungary, I realised how politically ignorant he is and that he has absolutely no understanding or knowledge of history. Saying that Hungary borders Hungary is absolute nonsense," Danko has said in a video on social media. The SNS leader finds it dangerous that the Hungarian premier doesn't know what the Kingdom of Hungary was, nor anything about the coexistence between the two nations. He thinks that someone should explain to him the difference between the Kingdom of Hungary and modern-day Hungary, including in the context of the existence of different nations. "The centre of the Kingdom of Hungary was our Bratislava. It was always a tradition for kings to be crowned here. This was where different nations gathered," stated Danko. He expressed his serious concern that the Hungarian premier's aim is to stir tensions or promote liberal nationalism. BRATISLAVA - Construction work on the Presov hospital has resumed, with the pace of work expected to increase in the near future, Defence Minister Robert Kalinak (Smer-SD) said on TA3's discussion programme 'V politike' (In Politics) on Sunday. "The work continues, with the intensity set to increase as of next week, however, the construction is already underway. We had to allow the previous contractors to take samples so that they could challenge our findings that the concrete was of poor quality, but the work is now progressing," stated the minister. Opposition MP Jana Bitto Ciganikova (Independent), also on the show, expressed her concern that Slovakia could face problems due to missing environmental impact assessment (EIA) for the hospital. "The law states that an EIA is not required if a facility serves exclusively defence purposes. It doesn't say it has to be owned by the Defence Ministry, but that it must serve defence purposes. You claim that because it is owned by the ministry, it serves defence purposes. That is not true, as civilians will be treated there and civilian doctors will work there. Which is, by the way the right approach, otherwise the hospital would not survive," she said. jrg