What Slovakia is writing about: Only the coalition applauded Pellegrini's State of the Republic address. Kaliňák faces criticism from within the coalition over Strnad's half-million

In his second State of the Republic address, President Peter Pellegrini criticised the opposition for its constant refusal to cooperate, but during the nearly hour-long speech applause came only from the coalition benches — commentators disagree on whether it was non-partisan or a speech by a “government spokesperson”. On the same day, Parliament was again unable to form a quorum for the second attempt to oust Economy Minister Denisa Saková and Interior Minister Matúš Šutaj Eštok; both votes have been postponed until Thursday. And while Prime Minister Fico definitively took responsibility for overseeing the construction of the new nuclear plant in Jaslovské Bohunice away from Saková and handed it to his own government commissioner, Defence Minister Robert Kaliňák faced criticism even from within his own coalition over more than half a million euros earned by his firm for advising Czech arms manufacturer Michal Strnad. In the morning, further links between Kaliňák and Strnad emerged — Czech Seznam Zprávy found that his firm had also been paid for lobbying in the United Arab Emirates on behalf of CSG, and the same group is behind an arms contract worth more than a billion signed by Kaliňák's long-time associate Martin Čatloš, who oversees weapons procurement at the Defence Ministry; meanwhile, an independent KPMG audit confirmed the price for buying ČEZ's stake in the nuclear plant, whose total costs fell from the originally announced €15 billion to just under €11 billion.

Pellegrini criticised the opposition and government; only the coalition applauded

On Wednesday, President Pellegrini delivered his second State of the Republic address to MPs, this time more critical of the opposition than last year. While last year opposition MPs interrupted his speech with applause twice and coalition MPs once, the ratio was reversed this time — government MPs applauded him three times for criticising the opposition for refusing to cooperate on strategic documents and for not attending his round tables; there was no applause at all from the opposition benches. Denník N ↗ In its overview of reactions, SME summarised that the coalition called it a balanced speech, while the opposition described it as extremely political and lacking criticism of the current government — Health Minister Kamil Šaško called it non-partisan, while SaS deputy leader Branislav Gröhling called it one of the weakest speeches he had ever heard. SME ↗

The Postoj portal juxtaposed the speech with Ursula von der Leyen's Wednesday address on the state of the Union — while, in its view, the European Commission president packed 21 new initiatives and “invented an elaborate agenda” into 75 minutes, Pellegrini sounded more like a president of the coalition: down-to-earth, but one-sidedly favourable to the government from which he emerged. Postoj ↗ Political scientists approached by Pravda concluded that he was critical but tactful towards the government, while presenting the opposition more as the part of the political spectrum that “creates problems”. Pravda ↗

The differing assessments escalated into a direct dispute across both coalition and opposition. PS leader Michal Šimečka called the speech extremely political, said it could not be considered a genuine account of the state of the country, and recalled that Pellegrini himself had been part of most of the governments during which Slovakia fell in international rankings. Government Hlas MP Roman Kalivoda, by contrast, called the speech “very nice” and non-partisan, praising the president for naming the deep polarisation of society and the effects of fiscal consolidation on people's living standards. Pravda ↗ According to Hospodárske noviny, Šimečka also said that the president himself bore responsibility for the current state of the country and had, in his view, played down the Russian threat — former foreign minister Ivan Korčok also referred to him in this connection. Hospodárske noviny ↗ The dispute also spilled into a television debate — Smer MP Ján Mažgút called the speech statesmanlike and non-partisan on TA3's Téma dňa, while opposition PS MP Ján Hargaš countered that it sounded more like a speech by a “government spokesperson” than an independent head of state. Pravda ↗

Saková and Šutaj Eštok removal votes failed for lack of a quorum; both move to Thursday

On Wednesday, the opposition made a second attempt at extraordinary sessions to oust Economy Minister Denisa Saková and Interior Minister Matúš Šutaj Eštok (both Hlas-SD) — on both occasions there was no quorum; only 61 MPs attended the vote on Saková and 59 the vote on Šutaj Eštok. Aktuality ↗ The motion to oust Saková was initiated by the Slovakia Movement together with other opposition parties, which fault the minister for non-transparent personnel appointments — including appointing a police investigator's wife to the supervisory board of the state-owned Energetika Slovensko — and for the chaotic design of targeted energy assistance, which they called a fiasco. SME ↗ The Interior Ministry called the attempt to oust Šutaj Eštok political theatre — spokesperson Matej Neumann noted that the opposition repeatedly fails to secure even the votes of its own MPs, and said the minister was ready to face the attempt “factually and with specific arguments”. TASR ↗ Both attempts have been moved to Thursday — Saková is to be discussed at 12.15, and Šutaj Eštok at 12.30.

Kaliňák and Strnad's half-million: part of the coalition also speaks of a conflict of interest

On Wednesday, Defence Minister Robert Kaliňák (Smer-SD) spent nearly an hour defending his relationship with Czech arms manufacturer Michal Strnad, majority owner of the Czechoslovak Group (CSG) holding — he admitted that his law firm Kallan Consulting had collected more than half a million euros from Strnad's group in recent years for consultancy and lobbying, but rejected any conflict of interest. SME ↗ The information was reported by Czech investigative journalists, who obtained documents showing exactly what the Slovak minister's firm had been paid for. STVR ↗ Denník N identified four weak points in the press conference — in addition to the legal risk of a conflict of interest, Kaliňák diverted attention with attacks on opposition MPs and the ESET company, which he claimed paid lower taxes than Strnad's arms plants, and was personal towards female journalists, telling them to “go to the toilet” when they tried to interrupt his monologue. Denník N ↗

Criticism also came from within his own coalition — Tourism and Sport Minister Rudolf Huliak (SNS) said before a government meeting that the relationship between Kaliňák's and Strnad's companies “was not right”, while Investment Minister Samuel Migaľ described it as a possible conflict of interest. Aktuality ↗ The affair also had an unexpected aftermath — a fire broke out that same day on the roof of a production hall at Strnad's group's site in Snina, where metal projectiles are manufactured. Kaliňák attributed the cause to an ongoing roof renovation carried out by an external company; the investigation is yet to establish the precise cause and extent of the damage. TASR ↗ The affair was expanded on Thursday by findings concerning Kaliňák's long-time ally Martin Čatloš, who now heads the modernisation section at the Defence Ministry and is the national armaments director — his name also appears on a contract worth more than a billion euros for military vehicles from TATRA DEFENCE SYSTEMS, part of Strnad's CSG holding. Czech Seznam Zprávy found that Kaliňák's firm Kallan Consulting had also been paid for lobbying for TATRA DEFENCE SYSTEMS in the United Arab Emirates. Aktuality ↗

PS leader's mother charged with subsidy fraud

On Wednesday, the Office for Combating Organised Crime (ÚBOK) formally charged Marta Šimečková, mother of Progressive Slovakia leader Michal Šimečka, with subsidy fraud — the case concerns the handling of state subsidies at her civic association Projekt Fórum; the charges were also extended to her former colleague Andrea Puková, and proceedings were opened against the association itself as a legal entity. If convicted, Šimečková faces up to five and a half years in prison and Puková two years. Pravda ↗ The investigation follows a Finance Ministry audit which, in a €255,000 subsidy from 2020 to 2022, uncovered duplicate invoices totalling approximately €69,000; according to published bank statements, some of the money also went towards the private purchase of designer furniture. Refresher ↗

Before the formal charges, businessman Zoroslav Kollár, who has recently been financially supporting opposition politics, stirred up the case — he published a document that he claimed confirmed the charges against Šimečková, although her lawyer Matúš Harkabus said at the time that the resolution had not yet been delivered to them. Pluska ↗ Aktuality ↗ PS leader Michal Šimečka repeatedly stresses that this is a separate matter concerning his mother and unrelated to his political activities — ÚBOK is also investigating Prime Minister Fico, who previously published non-public accounting data from the same association.

State money: the nuclear plant gets a new helmsman, while fuel and hospitals add to the worries

The government's dispute over the new nuclear plant in Jaslovské Bohunice ended in the prime minister's favour on Wednesday — after several weeks of conflict, Fico took management of the project away from Economy Minister Denisa Saková and handed it to government commissioner for the development of nuclear energy Peter Líška, who until then had only an advisory role. Aktuality ↗ Denník N ↗ The government also declared the project (capacity 1,200 megawatts, costs of approximately €10.9 billion, strategic partner US-based Westinghouse) a strategic investment, which should speed up the permitting process — an application for a zoning decision must be submitted by 31 March 2027. SME ↗ The price at which state-owned JAVYS is to buy ČEZ's 49 percent stake in JESS also remains part of the dispute — an independent KPMG valuation confirmed an estimate of €189.4 million, while the opposition Demokrati party considers the amount excessive. The dispute over the amount had dragged on for months — the Economy Ministry itself had proposed only €117 million, ČEZ records the stake at approximately €100 million in its own accounts, and former prime minister's adviser Eduard Chmelár spoke of an attempt to “snatch” as much as €90 million extra; the project's total budget thus fell by a third from the originally announced €15 billion. Pravda ↗

Fuel prices were also resonating on another front — the head of Slovnaft warned the government of panic on the oil market and the possibility of diesel exceeding €2 per litre; the cabinet asked him to exercise restraint in setting prices, while the opposition harshly criticises the government's abandonment of its promises of cheaper fuel. ta3 ↗ INEKO analyst Dušan Zachar also drew attention to a quieter item in the state budget — hospitals owe the Social Insurance Agency €921 million, and the current system of repeated state debt relief, he says, functions more as a reward for accumulating debt than as a sanction. Startitup.sk ↗

Under the radar

SaS called on parliamentary speaker Richard Raši to remove Tibor Gašpar (Smer-SD) as deputy speaker of the National Council — according to party deputy leader Mária Kolíková, the indicted Gašpar is “dragging down” the credibility of the entire parliament. Hospodárske noviny ↗ Another player has appeared on the political scene — former Smer MEP Boris Zala, together with Daniel Rabin and historian Stanislav Mičev, began collecting signatures for the new Ľudskosť a Prosperita party, whose aim, according to Zala, is to put “Igor Matovič and Robert Fico” into opposition. Refresher ↗ And Boris Kollár, leader of We Are Family, admitted in an interview that his once-public apology to former NAKA investigator Ján Čurilla had been insincere, and confirmed that he would run in the next election on a joint list with Richard Sulík. Aktuality ↗ At Lešť, where the headquarters of NATO's multinational brigade in Slovakia is located, a municipal company from a village near Rožňava is supplying food to soldiers of allied armies without a tender, despite not even having catering in its registered business activities — its contract with the army has already exceeded the financial limit, and the Defence Ministry says it does not even know about the subcontractors hired by the company. Aktuality ↗

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