MORNING NEWS HIGHLIGHTS - Thursday, August 29, 2024 - 9 a.m.

TASR brings a quick morning overview of the most important events seen in Slovakia on the previous day (Wednesday, August 28): BRATISLAVA - Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) on Wednesday met young people from Russia and Belarus, descendants of participants in the Slovak National Uprising (SNP) and struggles for the liberation of Slovakia. "These young people from the Russian Federation and Belarus came to Slovakia at my invitation. The Ukrainian side received the same invitation, however, this invitation hasn't resulted in a visit by young people from Ukraine," Fico has posted on a social network. BRATISLAVA - The leaders of the coalition parties should mainly deal with the issue of consolidating public finances at the Coalition Council session on Wednesday, said Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok (Voice-SD leader) following the cabinet session on Wednesday. "We'll primarily speak about consolidation at today's Coalition Council session," Sutaj Estok told journalists. He will wait for Finance Minister Ladislav Kamenicky (Smer-SD) to say what pressure is being exerted on cost-saving. Sutaj Estok expects cost-saving at a level of €2 billion next year. "We must find agreement in the coalition so that these measures will also bring some results," he remarked. The Voice-SD leader said that he was meeting coalition partners during the summer and that he hopes that they will manage to resolve the issue of the new parliamentary chair on Wednesday. Environment Minister Tomas Taraba (a Slovak National Party/SNS) views this in a similar way. "I think that there's a preliminary agreement," said Taraba when asked about the parliamentary chair issue. However, the leaders of Smer-SD, Voice-SD and SNS must come to an agreement. "We need to move on," he said, adding that he doesn't know about any potential changes at the ministries. Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) said that the issue must be resolved by the junior coalition parties Voice-SD and SNS. He stated that he's been helping to mediate an agreement between them because the post in question must be stabilised. In line with the coalition agreement, the parliamentary chair post belongs to the Voice-SD party, which wants to see its vice-chair Richard Rasi appointed. However, SNS is claiming the post as well, with its leader Andrej Danko saying that it would be ideal if the three governing parties occupied the posts of the top three constitutional officials, noting that Voice-SD founder Peter Pellegrini has become the president. BRATISLAVA - Trnava region Vice-governor Patrik Voltmann has joined the opposition Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party, SaS spokesman Ondrej Sprlak informed TASR on Wednesday, adding that this is the party's next step in terms of the expansion of its regional structures. "SaS is a party open to the regions and new faces. Our ranks are being strengthened by people who are active in the regions, local politicians or sympathisers who share our rightist values ​​and want to jointly create a counterbalance to the populist policy pursued by Robert Fico's government. One such figure is Trnava vice-governor Patrik Voltmann, who is a well-known and experienced person in regional politics," stated SaS chairman Branislav Groehling. The SaS chief views the regions as a space that can change Slovakia at the local level and that gives room for new people to grow into top politicians. BRATISLAVA - Slovakia is set to purchase six mobile air-defence systems from Israel, with the estimated price exceeding €554 million, according to materials that were approved by the government on Wednesday. The Defence Ministry is expected to sign an intergovernmental agreement with the Israelis by the end of October. The materials state that the offers for SAM-M systems from Israel are the most advantageous from the economic, technical and time point of view. The ministry claimed that if the situation regarding the protection of Slovak airspace is not addressed, the country would lose its remaining ability to protect it by 2027. mf