MORNING NEWS HIGHLIGHTS - Wednesday, August 21, 2024 - 9 a.m.

TASR brings a quick morning overview of the most important events seen in Slovakia on the previous day (Tuesday, August 20): BRATISLAVA - A second attempt to initiate a special House session aimed at ousting Culture Minister Martina Simkovicova (an SNS nominee) on Tuesday failed, as only 60 MPs presented themselves for the session, which was unable to meet the quorum. House Vice-chair Peter Ziga (Voice-SD) postponed the session until 11.30 a.m. on Wednesday, therefore. The exact same scenario took place earlier in the day with a special session aimed at ousting Justice Minister Boris Susko (Smer-SD), as MPs failed to meet the quorum to launch the session twice, and Ziga postponed that session until Wednesday morning as well. BRATISLAVA - Less than three weeks after the most recent amendment to the Penal Code came into force, it is not possible to evaluate the effect of the amendment on the crime rate, so it is also inappropriate to talk about an increase in minor offences accompanying the change, said Justice Minister Boris Susko (Smer-SD) at a press conference on Tuesday. At the same time, the minister rejected statements by the media that the number of petty thefts in shops has increased since the amendment entered into force. "Such an analysis in such a short time since the bill came into force is absolutely misleading," Susko opined. In this vein, he noted that even a more minor offence is still an illegal act for which the perpetrator is responsible. "They either have to compensate for the damage or they are sanctioned under the misdemeanour procedure," he pointed out. The minister also lambasted statements that the amendment to the Penal Code will allow the release of "thousands" of convicts. According to him, the Justice Ministry should have access to relevant figures on how many prisoners will be affected by the amendment within a few weeks. "But it certainly won't be thousands, our estimate says it should be more or less up to 200 people," claimed Susko, adding that the group of convicts who could be set free via the amendment won't automatically include petty thieves. "Most of them have been convicted of concurrent crimes and offences, be they drug offences or robberies. Criminal liability does not lapse for these offences," he said. BRATISLAVA - Culture Minister Martina Simkovicova (SNS nominee) and Justice Minister Boris Susko (Smer-SD) enjoy full support and confidence of the Slovak National Party (SNS), SNS leader Andrej Danko declared at a press conference on Tuesday. Danko claimed that Simkovicova is not doing anything illegal. "We won't tolerate absolutely any hint of nepotism or corruption and that's why Simkovicova has our full confidence because she has launched processes in the sphere of culture that many resent," he said. Danko underlined that the minister has a right to replace heads of cultural institutions. He reiterated that a potential conflict of interest might have existed on part of ousted Slovak National Gallery (SND) director Alexandra Kusa. If ministers were to do anything unlawful, the coalition would address it. BRATISLAVA - Annual inflation measured by the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) in line with harmonised European methodology reached 3 percent in July 2024, an increase of 0.6 percentage points (p.p.) month-on-month, the Statistics Office has reported. The average annual rate of harmonised inflation, comparing the change in the average price level for the average of harmonised consumer price indices over the past 12 months to the average for the previous 12 months, reached 5 percent in July, down by 0.6 p.p. month-on-month. zel