NEWS HIGHLIGHTS - Saturday, July 6, 2024 - 2 p.m.

TASR brings a quick morning overview of the most important events seen in Slovakia on the previous day (Friday, July 5): BRATISLAVA - Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) made his first public appearance since his May 15 shooting at Friday's event at the Devin Castle in Bratislava, which celebrated the 1,161st anniversary of the arrival of Byzantine missionaries St. Cyril and Methodius to erstwhile Great Moravia, and called for forming a bulwark against "senseless progressive and liberal ideologies that damage Slovakia". The need to defend Slovakia against these liberal ideologies might necessitate the search for a consensus on a political scene, so that enough votes are garnered in Parliament to modify the Constitution, Fico said in his speech. "All of us together must build a great bulwark against senseless progressive and liberal ideologies that spread like cancer. The ideologies that damage this country and came into existence only the day before yesterday," declared Fico. Fico pointed out that marriage is defined in the Slovak Constitution as a union between a man and woman. "If we will continue to be endangered by ideologies that come into existence overnight, spread like a venom and stand in stark conflict with what we have in the Slovak Constitution, maybe we'll need to seek consensus on the Slovak political scene to modify the Constitution, with a mind to reinforcing the bulwark against the liberal and progressivist ideologies even stronger," he said. The Prime Minister noted that the Slovak society is polarized and criticised the liberal media, which, in his view, called the public holiday of St. Cyril and Methodius a relic of the past. "Europe and Slovakia have never been so divided as they are today," he claimed. In Fico's opinion, everyone must take a moment to reflect on what's happening in Slovakia and Europe. He praised Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban for visiting Kiev and Moscow. "I would have loved to join him, had my health condition enabled me to do so. There's never enough peace talks, peace initiatives, I repeat, there's never enough of that. So let's all make a gesture that could be the celebration of this evening and let's give a thought as to what to do about this, so that May 15 will never occur again and tensions in society over the military conflict in Ukraine won't escalate any further," said Fico. BRATISLAVA - St. Cyril and Methodius, the 9th-century Byzantine missionaries, came up with the idea that every nation has the right to celebrate its liturgy in its own language and that the nations are equal in their languages, culture and habits, President Peter Pellegrini declared at a commemorative event held at the Devin Castle in Bratislava to mark the 1,161st anniversary of St. Cyril's and Methodius' arrival in erstwhile Great Moravia. Accentuating that the Thessaloniki brothers promoted their faith in a decent manner and without hatred, President Peter Pellegrini called on Slovaks not to forget their ancient legacy. The greatest strong suit of Cyril and Methodius, in Pellegrini's view, was their truth, faith and arguments. He added that the missionaries didn't backtrack even in the face of attacks by authorities who didn't agree with their message. "But they always promoted their truth, their faith, politely and in a manner that was never stained by any blood or hatred," he underlined. The President voiced his hope that every Slovak will take a moment to self-reflect and determine how he or she can contribute towards making the nation unite again in the difficult contemporary times. He hopes that Slovaks will once again re-learn to debate based on arguments and with decorum, the way Cyril and Methodius had debated once. BRATISLAVA - Peter Weisenbacher of the Human Rights Institute NGO filed a criminal complaint with the Prosecutor-General's Office over suspicions that Culture Minister Martina Simkovicova (SNS nominee) had expressed support for racism and anti-Semitism when she told topky.sk website in an interview on July 3 that "Europe is dying out, new children are not being born because of the surfeit of LGBTI and it's interesting that this happens only to the white race", TASR learnt from the Culture Ministry's press department on Sunday. Human Rights Institute lawyer Daniel Grejtak added that it's "beyond understanding how the member of the Slovak government can talk about the "white race" in such a context, as if Jewish or Roma children were undesirables; as if Slovakia weren't a Republic for all its citizens but some tribal community based on ethnic and racial affiliations". The Culture Ministry finds the statements of Weisenbacher and Grejtak "absolutely misleading". In its reply, the Culture Ministry warned that such allegations border on the violation of Culture Minister Martina Simkovicova's human and civic rights, and constitute an attack in an unprecedented manner against her "constitutional right as a citizen of the Slovak Republic to freedom of speech". NITRA - Pope Francis sent his regards to Slovak President Peter Pellegrini on the occasion of St. Cyril and Methodius state holiday and in the letter, which was read out loud at Friday's liturgical ceremony, expressed his fond wish of prosperity for Slovakia. "Let your homeland continue striving for peace and brotherhood in this part of the world. Let Slovaks, building on their evangelic roots, continue to contribute towards providing relief to the poorest and most vulnerable and work towards the common good," wrote the Pope in the letter. In his post on a social network, the President pointed out that St. Cyril and Methodius laid down the foundation of the Slovak culture by bringing their faith and devising the Glagolitic alphabet for the then Great Moravia, the first alphabet used to transcribe Old Church Slavonic. zel