MORNING NEWS HIGHLIGHTS - Friday, January 10, 2025 - 9 a.m.

TASR brings a quick morning overview of the most important events seen in Slovakia on the previous day (Thursday, January 9): BRUSSELS/BRATISLAVA - We might stop all humanitarian aid to Ukraine, decide to significantly reduce or completely withdraw benefits for Ukrainian war refugees in Slovakia or halt electricity supplies in emergency situations, said Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) following his talks with EC representatives in Brussels on Thursday in connection with potential reciprocal measures against Kiev in response to the halt to gas transit via Ukraine to Slovakia. At the political level, Slovakia might make use of its right of veto when it comes to a number of decisions in the European Union, said Fico. However, Slovakia will only take these steps if it has no other option, said the premier, adding that this is an opportunity to show how the leader of a sovereign country should behave. Fico also announced that a group to address the current dispute is being immediately formed, featuring representatives of Slovakia, the EC, and probably also Ukraine. BRATISLAVA - Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) convened a session of the coalition council on Thursday to decide on the next course of action regarding the gas transit via Ukraine to Slovakia, the Government's Office press department stated on the same day, adding that the Prime Minister will announce the decision in due time. "As I announced after the negotiations in Brussels on the transit of gas via Ukraine, I convened the coalition partners to decide on the next approach. You will be informed about the decisions passed in due time," declared Fico. BRATISLAVA - Leaders of parliamentary opposition parties Michal Simecka (PS), Milan Majersky (KDH) and Branislav Groehling (SaS) asked President Peter Pellegrini in an open letter for a meeting to discuss the future foreign affairs orientation of Slovakia, over their growing concerns raised by the incumbent government's actions and statements abroad, TASR learnt from PS press department head Alena Kuisova on Thursday. "We perceive with a particular concern the recent foreign trips by the Prime Minister and the manner in which they were carried out, including his trip to the Russian Federation. It was with concern that we registered also his words about the need to draft a new stance by the top constitutional officials, which includes you, on foreign policy," reads the letter. Leaders of PS, KDH and SaS underline that Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) has received no mandate, either from the people of Slovakia or Parliament, to change the fundamental parameters of Slovakia's foreign policy. BRATISLAVA - No alterations to the home ownership database are being made, neither the owners nor ownership relationships are being changed, and the crisis management team of the Geodesy, Cartography, and Cadastre Office (UGKK) is working to restore the system as soon as possible, UGKK chairman Juraj Celler has told a news conference that he held jointly on Thursday with Lukas Hlavicka, a member of the security incident response team. Celler stressed that there's no need to worry or spread alarming news. An advanced targeted attack on UGKK was identified by an information technology provider at 8.50 a.m. on Sunday (January 5). As soon as this attack was identified by the provider, the process of resolving the security incident was launched in cooperation with the National Security Bureau (NBU) and other invited security forces," said Hlavicka. This was partly why the infrastructure was disconnected from external networks and services, explained Hlavicka. The reason was to prevent the attack from spreading within the infrastructure and attacking third parties. "Given the fact that the office has multi-layered backups, it is able to restore data for providing critical services from secondary backups. However, these are currently having to be secured, checked and identified to ensure their integrity. Only then will it be possible to restore them and put them in operation," stated Hlavicka. BRATISLAVA - Electronic prescriptions for all types of drugs will be restored as of Friday (January 10) at the very latest, the Health Ministry press department announced on Thursday. "Patients who pay for their medications out of their own pocket and whose health care has been provided under the public health insurance will no longer need to visit doctors to get their prescriptions," stated Health Minister Kamil Sasko (Voice-SD) and apologised to patients for any inconveniences they might have encountered. BRATISLAVA - Slovakia posted a positive trade-balance in November 2024 with a surplus amounting to €327.9 million, according to preliminary figures released by the Statistics Office on Thursday. Although foreign trade decreased month-on-month (m-o-m) in November, both export and import figures were the second-highest seen in 2024. Exports from Slovakia amounted to €9.7 billion in November, up 2.6 percent year-on-year (y-o-y). Imports grew by 2.8 percent to €9.4 billion. The country recorded a positive trade balance for the eleventh month in a row, but the surplus for November was almost €10 million lower than in the same month of 2023. A 3-percent increase in the value of exported cars contributed most to the development of exports, while growth in imports was chiefly driven by the category of machinery and transport equipment, going up by 6.7 percent y-o-y. ko