MORNING NEWS HIGHLIGHTS - Thursday, 20 August 2026 - 9 a.m.

TASR brings a quick morning overview of the most important events seen in Slovakia on the previous day (Wednesday, 19 August): BRATISLAVA - Environment Ministry's State Secretary Filip Kuffa is no longer the head of both the delimitation commission and the commission for the state's pre-emption right, according to a video he posted on social media on Wednesday. As explained by Kuffa, the first of the two commissions deals with the transfer of state-owned land and other real estate property, including related assets, in national parks to the management of national park administrations. In his video, Kuffa pointed out that Environment Minister Tomas Taraba (a Slovak National Party/SNS nominee) appointed general secretary of the Environment Ministry's service office Marek Chovan as chairman of the delimitation commission. BRATISLAVA - Access to the personal data of company representatives has become easier following changes to the way in which the Business Register works, with people now able to access birth numbers, addresses and specimen signatures electronically, according to statements by several opposition parties on Wednesday criticising the changes implemented via the Act on the Business Register. Justice Minister Boris Susko (Smer-SD) said before Wednesday's cabinet meeting that the law was in order and wouldn't be changed. The Christian Democrats (KDH) called on the Justice Ministry to launch an expert discussion aimed at finding a solution to protect sensitive data in state registers. "We realise that transparency in the business environment is important, but it mustn't put the safety of decent people in peril," said KDH chair Milan Majersky. The opposition Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party said that there's nothing wrong with publishing collections of documents, but the state should have protected the sensitive data by technical means. "The state and the Justice Ministry could have done more to ensure that such data remains public, but with access to it controlled in some way, through some additional verification," said SaS MP Vladimira Marcinkova, adding that a technical solution could simply have been copied from other countries, such as Estonia. BRATISLAVA - The power to review lengthy judicial proceedings could be devolved from the Constitutional Court to general and administrative courts, according to a draft amendment to the Act on courts approved by the government on Wednesday with the aim of relieving the Constitutional Court of the agenda involving undue delays. According to the Justice Ministry, which submitted the proposal, the amendment has been made necessary by legal practice and the specific position and role of the Constitutional Court. It's proposed that the amendment should become effective as of 1 January 2027. "The Constitutional Court's daily agenda includes ruling on cases that are more important for the state and citizens than complaints about lengthy proceedings," said the ministry. BRATISLAVA - The bigger the problem, the greater the attempts to downplay it, stated the opposition Progressive Slovakia (PS) party representatives in response to Prime Minister Robert Fico's (Smer-SD) remarks about two problematic speed cameras, maintaining that Fico's and Interior Ministry's arguments are at odds with the facts. PS security adviser and member of the party's presidium Peter Bator pointed out that the matter cannot be dismissed as involving only two problematic cameras or a mere trial run. "According to a material at today's cabinet meeting, the National Implementation and Coordination Authority (NIKA) received a list of 25 devices that were to be installed by the end of August in order to meet another milestone of the Recovery Plan," said Bator, noting that this corresponds to the Interior Ministry's initial statements when its spokesperson mentioned the installation of 25 speed cameras in pilot operation by the end of August. "So this is not trial operation, but pilot operation," stressed Bator. He interpreted Fico's statements regarding the case as an attempt to downplay the problem, comparing it to the situation involving problematic columns at the military hospital in Presov. BRATISLAVA - The opposition Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party proposes that an extraordinary meeting of the parliamentary economic affairs committee should be convened in connection with the preparations for a new nuclear power facility at Jaslovske Bohunice (Trnava region), SaS MP Karol Galek told a press briefing on Wednesday. He added that SaS was prompted to do so by a week-long dispute between Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) and Economy Minister Denisa Sakova (Voice-SD). "Robert Fico doesn't want Czech company CEZ to be involved in the preparations for the new nuclear facility, even though it has been working on the project together with the state-owned Nuclear and Decommissioning Company (JAVYS) for 16 years," said Galek. According to him, the reason is simple: Fico doesn't want anyone looking over his shoulder. "The dispute is about whether CEZ should receive €100 million or €190 million," added Galek. GABCIKOVO - State-run water-management construction company Vodohospodarska vystavba (VV) has completed a public procurement procedure for a supplier of new turbines for the hydroelectric power plant at the Gabcikovo Waterworks, with Austrian company Andritz Hydro winning the tender with a bid amounting to more than €465 million in a consortium with Slovakia's Nuclear Energy Research Institute (VUJE), TASR has learnt from the VV General Director's Office. According to VV, this investment aims to modernise the power plant that is of strategic importance for flood protection, navigation on the Danube River and electricity generation. VV also stated that the existing turbines are well past their operational lifespan, emphasising that expert assessments had warned of risks associated with their operation and material fatigue as early as 2010. The company has been attempting to select a supplier since 2017. ko