What Slovakia is writing about: Babiš refused to comment on Fico, Pavel told him he's only pretending to want peace. Coalition reports political agreement on budget

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš on Monday refused to directly comment on Fico's statements about NATO's Article 5, but signaled that the Czech Republic would respect collective defense if an ally were attacked. President Petr Pavel, on the same day in New York, repeated that "peace will not be achieved by someone who merely pretends to want it" — according to him, peace is achieved through readiness to defend oneself, not through words. The coalition council also discussed next year's budget on Monday and agreed that the leaders of the coalition parties will present a political agreement on it in the coming days; the opposition SaS speaks of a budget for the coalition's survival. State Secretary of the Environment Ministry Filip Kuffa, after talks with the prime minister, confirmed that he remains the SNS nominee to succeed Taraba, although a change at the ministerial post will not happen before the end of September.

Babiš stays silent on Fico, Pavel tells him he's only pretending to want peace

While Fico over the weekend told the Czech president to respect that he prefers peace, Pavel himself repeated his position on Monday in New York: "Peace will not be achieved by someone who merely pretends to want it" — according to him, peace is achieved through readiness to defend oneself, not through words SME ↗ Aktuality ↗. Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš avoided directly assessing Fico — he did not want to comment on his statements — but signaled that the Czech Republic would respect NATO's collective defense in the event of an attack on an ally Aktuality ↗ ta3 ↗. Political scientist Eduard Chmelár took a mixed position — he partly defended Fico, but also criticized the prime minister for scaring people with talk of war Pravda ↗. Parliament Speaker Richard Raši (Hlas), by contrast, tried to calm the dispute — he pointed out that the essence of Article 5 must remain untouched, but rejected interpreting it as an automatic order to go to war Teraz ↗. Denník N pointed out a contradiction: while Fico was arguing about Article 5, parliament approved sending soldiers to Poland and Romania Denník N ↗. Commentators were sharper — SME wrote that "nothing is more false than Fico's pacifism" SME ↗, Aktuality, in a commentary by Peter Bárdy, claims that Fico "declared war on the Slovak Republic" Aktuality ↗, and Postoj added that Fico is about to imitate the vile lie that helped Peter Pellegrini win the 2024 presidential election Postoj ↗. The opposition Progresívne Slovensko plans to turn to the ambassadors of NATO and EU countries over the statements. Our article →

Kuffa confirmed as SNS nominee, Taraba to stay at least until the end of the month

After Monday's talks with Fico, Filip Kuffa confirmed that the SNS still continues to push him for the vacant post of environment minister, but he will not replace Tomáš Taraba by the end of the month — the next meeting is planned only for next week ta3 ↗ Teraz ↗. According to SME, the change at the ministerial post will not happen before the end of September SME ↗. Kuffa, the current State Secretary of the Environment Ministry, repeated after the talks that "the SNS leadership insists" that he should be the nominee TN Live ↗. Startitup provided a reminder of who Kuffa actually is and where he came from within the environment ministry Startitup ↗.

Coalition reports political agreement on budget, opposition speaks of coalition's "survival"

The coalition council discussed next year's budget on Monday and, according to the Government Office, agreed that the leaders of the governing parties will present a political agreement on the budget in the coming days Aktuality ↗. The opposition SaS sees it differently — according to them, the government is putting together a budget for the coalition's survival, and people will pay for it SME ↗; SaS chairman Branislav Gröhling also pointed to the debt brake and the Constitutional Court Hospodárske noviny ↗. SME also notes that this is Fico's last budget before the elections, marked by secrecy, an approaching deadline, and likely a high deficit as well SME ↗. Prague is dealing with a similar problem — Andrej Babiš's Czech government on the same day approved a draft budget for 2027 with a deficit of 386 billion crowns (approximately 15.9 billion euros), the second-highest in history according to Hospodárske noviny Hospodárske noviny ↗.

Under the radar

Zuzana Petková, head of the Zastavme korupciu foundation, explained in an interview for Aktuality what she believes could have been the motive behind Fico's attack on Prosecutor General Maroš Žilinka Aktuality ↗ — this is her hypothesis, not a confirmed claim. Minister Taraba, shortly before his planned departure, announced that 247 million euros from the Environmental Fund will go toward modernizing the heating sector, which should bring lower heat losses and more environmentally friendly production Aktuality ↗. Foreign Minister Juraj Blanár, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, pushed through a regular format of talks between V4 countries and India, which he himself called a "historic success of Slovak diplomacy" Aktuality ↗, while President Pellegrini, in the context of UN reform, called for smaller states to also have a voice SME ↗. According to TA3, a broader coalition agreement is also taking shape on changing the electoral system — fewer preferential votes and an end to classic postal voting from abroad ta3 ↗. Denník N wrote that Health Minister Šaško broke his promise and is concealing proposals for fixing the ambulance service, which nevertheless ended up appearing on the website Denník N ↗.

What hotinfo is following

• Environment ministry: whether Pellegrini, after returning from the US, will ultimately appoint Kuffa or insist on a "more expert" name, as he had called for even before Kuffa's talks with Fico.
• Budget: how the coalition's political agreement will look in practice, and whether the debt brake and Constitutional Court flagged by Gröhling will ultimately complicate it.
• Diplomatic dispute: whether Fico will return to Pavel's and Babiš's words about Article 5.
• Žilinka: whether the Zastavme korupciu foundation's thesis about the reason for Fico's attack on the prosecutor general will be backed up by further facts.
• Electoral system: whether the coalition will actually put forward a change limiting preferential votes and abolishing classic postal voting from abroad.