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STVR :: Slovak Television and Radio, a public broadcaster. :: Does not achieve planned advertising revenues because government advertising did not materialize. :: /organization/stvr
Slovalco :: Aluminum smelter in Žiar nad Hronom, the only Slovak producer of primary aluminum. :: The Prime Minister opened his speech with its restart at the uprising celebrations. :: /organization/slovalco
Banská Bystrica :: Regional city in central Slovakia, center of the Slovak National Uprising. :: Central celebrations of the 82nd anniversary of the uprising were held there. :: /location/banská-bystrica
Deadline for Recovery Plan Milestones Expires Today
Slovakia has 6.4 billion euros allocated in its recovery and resilience plan, which according to the European Commission represents more than five percent of Slovakia's gross domestic product. The release of funds is tied to meeting the national plan's milestones and targets, with the final deadline for their completion falling today. The actual payments must be completed by the end of December at the latest. The Commission is also warning against reverting milestones that have already been assessed as satisfactorily met, to avoid suspension or reduction of payments. This was reported by Katarína Touquet Jaremová, spokeswoman for the Commission's Representation in Slovakia. TASR ↗Slovakia has already submitted all payment requests. The Commission is currently assessing the eighth and ninth, through which the country can obtain the remaining 1.2 billion euros, and these two requests require fulfilling 83 milestones and targets including reforms in education and the environment and investments in healthcare and digitalization. "Responsible and consistent implementation of the recovery plan is, however, entirely in the hands of the Slovak government," said Peter Stano, head of the Commission's Representation. SME ↗ Hospodárske noviny ↗
The warning against reverting an already-completed milestone has very concrete content in Slovakia. This is precisely what was at stake in the dispute over national parks zoning, which the government ended last Friday by revoking its own resolutions. Critics associated 450 million euros with them, and the environmental ministry claimed throughout that the resolutions lost their justification through an August memorandum. Štandard ↗
Read also: What Slovakia is writing about: Government revoked park resolutions. Slovalco resumes aluminum production after three years
Same Sentence, Four Different Headlines
Drucker said in Sunday's Politics 24 program on Joj 24 television that Slovakia will not be sanctioned for failing to meet some milestones, but will probably lose some money because it failed to meet some spending indicators. He added that it is not possible to identify a specific culprit. SITA ↗The news outlets framed the same sentence in four different ways. SME newspaper put the loss of money in the headline, Hospodárske noviny on the other hand put that Slovakia will not be sanctioned and will only lose very small amounts of money. Aktuality combined both halves and narrowed the loss to transportation, SITA chose the most cautious frame, that Slovakia may not exhaust the entire recovery plan. None of them said what specific amounts of money were at stake. SME ↗ Hospodárske noviny ↗ Aktuality.sk ↗
President Enters Dispute Over Environmental Ministry
Pellegrini said in an interview with TA3 that if Environment Minister Tomáš Taraba is to be replaced by a new nominee, it must be a higher-quality alternative. He was responding to information that SNS plans to push current state secretary Filip Kuffa for the ministry. Aktuality.sk ↗ TASR ↗The day before, the Prime Minister set September 30 as the deadline for resolving the dispute and said he feels like a janitor cleaning up others' mistakes. At the same time, he wants Taraba to continue in his position. The news outlets differed in which half of the statement they considered the main news. Štandard put Fico's support for Taraba in the headline, Hospodárske noviny the political gesture that should come if SNS and the minister do not agree, TA3 the image of a janitor, and SME newspaper that the Prime Minister does not plan to learn from Viktor Orbán. SITA ↗ Štandard ↗ Hospodárske noviny ↗ SME ↗
Kuffa clarified in the PubliQ program where the dispute began according to him. When Taraba submitted his application to SNS, it was already clear to everyone that they would not take him, and he himself spoke up for himself with Danko at the last minute precisely because there would be conflict out of it. If Taraba had tried to remove the party chairman, SNS would have fallen apart after 150 years according to Kuffa. SME ↗
Speech at Uprising Celebrations and Antifascist Statement
At the central celebrations of the 82nd anniversary of the Slovak National Uprising in Banská Bystrica, attended by over 15,000 people, the Prime Minister stated that Russia cannot be demonized or pushed out of Europe. In his speech, he called the opposition a political alternative and accused it of despising Slovakia, and also criticized journalists and the European Union. The celebrations were attended by Russian Federation Ambassador Sergei Andreev. Aktuality reported that the Prime Minister boasted right at the beginning that the day before he was present at the resumption of production at the Slovalco aluminum plant. Aktuality.sk ↗ Denník N ↗The Slovak Antifascist Movement stated in a statement that the celebrations are not intended for delivering party speeches. It objected that the Prime Minister quoted Gustáv Husák but omitted generals Ján Golian and Rudolf Viest, or politicians Jozef Lettrich and Ján Ursíny, and that the speech lacked condemnation of the Russian war against Ukraine. The movement characterized the omission of those names as intentional. SME ↗
New Interior Ministry Headquarters for 85 Million
The government approved on Wednesday a plan under which more than 85 million euros would go toward the renovation of the building and construction of a new center for the interior ministry on the Danube embankment in Bratislava, next to the Eurovea shopping center. The 85.3 million euro project is estimated to be completed by 2037 and, in addition to the new building, includes the renovation of existing spaces as well as the purchase of two additional buildings for state property. SITA ↗Here too, one government document gave rise to three different reports. SITA wrote a factual report about the modernization of the headquarters. The SME newspaper recalled that the plan received the "Corn 2" label right from the start and compared it to Kaliňák's renovation of the Hviezda dormitory, which exceeded 53 million euros including furniture. The Denník N led with a headline stating that the cost should be covered by the sale of buildings in lucrative locations, since the ministry does not plan to finance the project directly from the budget. SME ↗ Denník N ↗
Campaign Before Joint Elections and Opposition Regrouping
Less than eight weeks remain until the joint municipal and regional elections on October 24. Fico supported Igor Šimek, the candidate for the head of the Košice self-governing region, who is backed by eight parties, and said that Šimek essentially united the left and the national bloc. SITA ↗In Prešov region, party chairman Milan Uhrík called MEP Judita Laššáková's candidacy an insult to voters and claimed that Smer could have an agreement with the KDH party to help the current regional governor Milan Majerský retain his post. This is Uhrík's claim so far; neither of the mentioned parties has confirmed it. SITA ↗
Richard Sulík announced in the program "In Politics" on TA3 that he will run in next year's parliamentary elections and will say in the fall who he will cooperate with. One option is Boris Kollár's "We are Family" movement; he also admitted cooperation with Martin Winkler and his Danube party, and would like to go into elections together with independent MP Jana Bittó Cigáníková. He will not approach MPs from SaS. In the same program, he called it a mistake that at his son's wedding he called disinformation spreader Daniel Bombica "a cool guy," and defended journalist Zuzana Kovačič Hanzelová. SITA ↗ SME ↗ Štandard ↗
On economic matters, Sulík also commented on nuclear energy. According to him, a new nuclear block would be built faster and cheaper if Czech ČEZ participated in it. Aktuality.sk ↗ TASR ↗
Aktuality meanwhile pointed out what gets lost in poll headlines. Ipsos analyst Roman Pudmarčík says that shifts in tenths of a percent should not be interpreted as political earthquakes. Ipsos measured Progressive Slovakia at 18.1 percent and Smer at 17.9, state Infostat gave Smer over 20 percent and Progressive Slovakia less than 19, while NMS agency measured 19.2 to 16.5 in favor of the opposition. At these values, the statistical margin of error is plus or minus three percentage points, so talk of a free fall of either party is premature. Aktuality.sk ↗
State Money After the Transaction Tax
The Prime Minister indicated in the Saturday Dialogues on STVR how he wants to replace the lost revenue after the transaction tax is abolished. One option is a general expenditure reduction of approximately one percent, which would affect all institutions of state and public administration. TASR ↗ Hospodárske noviny ↗The Pravda newspaper calculated this morning what this means for Finance Minister Ladislav Kamenický. According to the newspaper, the revenue gap is half a billion euros, and on the table are spending cuts, changes in the social sphere, higher taxes, and new contribution burdens. Trend meanwhile notes that the interest rate environment has tightened even outside Slovakia. In August, Germany paid a yield of 3.783 percent on thirty-year debt, the highest in fifteen years, even though investor demand nearly tenfold exceeded supply. Pravda ↗ Trend ↗
Under the Radar
Aktuality found that Smer vice-chairman and MEP Ľuboš Blaha and his wife acquired a house in Bratislava's Kramáre district last December, which a real estate agency advertised for roughly 950,000 euros. In 2015, Blaha declared in parliament that he dislikes rich people and cannot stand them. He did not respond to questions from the editorial team, but on Sunday evening he released a video in which he sharply attacked them, claiming he bought the house entirely with a mortgage paid from his MEP salary, and objected that the price was significantly lower. The editorial team cannot verify his claim about the price. Aktuality.sk ↗The second report, covered by only one newspaper, concerns public broadcasting financing. This year, the national lottery company Tipos significantly reduced its advertising spending on STVR, so the television station is not achieving its planned advertising revenue. STVR's Director General Martina Flašíková stated this at a meeting of the STVR Board and wants to address it with the government. Denník N ↗
What hotinfo Follows
- The European Commission assessed Slovakia's eighth and ninth payment requests from the recovery plan and the amount the country lost is known.
- The dispute over the environment minister's post was resolved by September 30, or the prime minister explained what the political gesture he announced means.
- The Interior Ministry disclosed which buildings it wants to sell to finance the new headquarters and for what amount.
- The Finance Minister presented specifically how he will replace the revenue gap after abolishing the transaction tax.
- STVR leadership negotiated with the government about the shortfall in state advertising revenue and its scope is known.
