SUMMARY - Sunday, 20 September 2026 - 11 p.m.

Bratislava, 20 September (TASR) - Culture Minister Martina Simkovicova on Sunday departed for a working visit to the USA, with her agenda during the week set to focus on supporting Slovak cultural heritage, the Slovak educational and cultural activities in the USA, as well as cultural diplomacy, TASR learnt from Culture Ministry's communications department director Petra Demkova on the same day. https://etasr.sk/article/23731937 Bratislava, 20 September (TASR) - Entertaining the illusion that a functional balanced state budget can be submitted today is a utopia, President Peter Pellegrini said on JOJ 24's discussion programme 'Politika 24' (Politics 24) on Sunday, adding that the preparation of a budget a year before a parliamentary election is always a major problem. https://etasr.sk/article/23732233 Kosice, 20 September (TASR) - A conference held at the Technical University of Kosice (TUKE) on Wednesday (16 September) highlighted the potential for further Slovak-Israeli cooperation, particularly in the fields of energy, including geothermal and nuclear, artificial intelligence and health care, TASR was told by the Israeli Embassy in Slovakia. https://etasr.sk/article/23732352 Bratislava, 20 September (TASR) - Speaking on JOJ 24's discussion programme 'Politika 24' (Politics 24) on Sunday, President Peter Pellegrini confirmed that after returning from his working trip to the US, he will deal with a proposal to dismiss Environment Minister Tomas Taraba (a Slovak National Party/SNS nominee). https://etasr.sk/article/23732487 Bratislava, 20 September (TASR) - Europe has no clear political plan for resolving the Russia-Ukraine conflict, junior coalition Slovak National Party (SNS) MP Roman Michelko said on TA3's discussion programme 'V politike' (In Politics) on Sunday. https://etasr.sk/article/23732719 Bratislava, 20 September (TASR) - I respect that Czech President Petr Pavel, as a former NATO general, would like to fight; therefore, I would welcome it if he respected that I prefer peace, Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) said in response to Sunday's statement by the Czech president who described Fico's remarks concerning Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty as serious. https://etasr.sk/article/23732955 Bratislava, 20 September (TASR) - Foreign and European Affairs Minister Juraj Blanar (Smer-SD) departed for New York on Sunday as part of the delegation led by President Peter Pellegrini to represent Slovakia at the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), TASR learnt from the ministry's communications department on the same day. https://etasr.sk/article/23733164 Bratislava, 20 September (TASR) - Speaking on STVR's discussion programme 'O 5 minut 12' (Five Minutes to Twelve) on Sunday, Smer-SD parliamentary caucus chair Jan Richter stated that during the Coalition Council's meeting on Monday (21 September), the parties will discuss, as the main item on the agenda, the draft state budget for 2027 which he said will be "99 percent final" when submitted to Parliament. https://etasr.sk/article/23733422 NOTICE: If you click on the link or copy it into the search window, the browser will display the full text of the message in the new e-TASR client zone. If you have any questions, please contact obchod@tasr.sk. jrg