What Slovakia is writing about: Danko admits he "could bring Fico down," but doesn't want to break up the government. After the confidence vote comes a summer of budget battles

A few days after Fico's cabinet survived a confidence vote with 78 votes, coalition tensions spilled onto live television: SNS chairman Andrej Danko, in Sunday's discussion program on Slovak Television and Radio (STVR), admitted that the prime minister "could just about be brought down," and accused him of "liquidating" his partners — though he quickly added that he does not want to break up the government, since there is no alternative. At the same time, the main battleground is shifting from confidence to money, as Danko is set to negotiate with the finance minister on Wednesday over next year's budget; Danko rejects a balanced budget. On top of that came the voice of a Supreme Court judge, who questioned the legality of the panel that overturned the conviction of former special prosecutor Dušan Kováčik.

Danko versus Fico: the coalition cracks out loud

On Sunday's STVR program O 5 minút 12, Danko and SaS leader Branislav Gröhling met — and it was Danko who delivered the sharpest lines of the evening. "I'm starting to feel uncomfortable in this government, because my enthusiasm that we could have accomplished more in three years is fading," he declared. He accused the prime minister of being unable to treat coalition partners properly: "That's how he liquidated Mečiar and Slota, that's how he liquidated Bugár and Danko, and that's how he's liquidating Šutaj Eštok and Danko." Startitup ↗

Different outlets framed the same moment differently. Štandard stuck to factual quoting — "Fico could be brought down, but he doesn't want to be" — and emphasized that Danko rejected accusations of blackmail: according to him, SNS pressure is aimed only at abolishing the transaction tax for self-employed people. Štandard ↗ The opposition made full use of the opening: in the same debate, Gröhling declared that "the only good continuity for this country would be for Fico to end his political career," and elsewhere called the prime minister "the biggest parasite in the state." Pravda ↗ Smer co-founder and former MP Boris Zala went even further in a video podcast for Aktuality.sk — according to him, "Smer itself has become an oligarchy" and Fico has nothing left to offer Slovakia. Aktuality.sk ↗

For all the sharp rhetoric, a second fact deserves equal weight: in the very same sentence where he "brings Fico down," Danko also hedged on the government — breaking it up makes no sense, he says, because there is no replacement. So far, the public spat implies no real step toward the cabinet's fall, but rather positioning ahead of a summer full of budget disputes.

Regional elections and personnel reshuffles

Danko also announced that SNS's candidate for chairman of the Žilina self-governing region will be MP Adam Lučanský; the party wants to present its candidate for the Prešov region next week. Only SNS members are to be on the ticket — according to Danko, neither Štefan Harabin nor lawyer Zoroslav Kollár should be expected among them. ta3 ↗ Gröhling confirmed that SaS will run in the regional elections independently, without Ivan Mikloš or Lucia Ďuriš Nicholsonová and without cooperation with the Hungarian Alliance.

Friction isn't limited to SNS and Smer. Radomír Šalitroš, state secretary at the Ministry of Investments — whose brother, according to ta3, was charged by police after a raid with EU-funds fraud — speaks of "political intrigues" and is weighing his future; together with Minister Samuel Migaľ, he currently holds the coalition's arithmetic together. If the pair were to return to their seats in parliament, the government would be left with the narrowest possible majority of 76 votes. Hlas leader Šutaj Eštok noted that under the coalition agreement, both Šalitroš and Migaľ were nominated by Smer, which bears responsibility for them. ta3 ↗ Two personnel questions also remain open: the successor to Tomáš Taraba at the Ministry of Environment, which SNS wants to fill in September, and the parliamentary seat vacated by Miroslav Radačovský, whom the president appointed this week as ambassador to Cyprus.

And a third personnel matter with institutional weight: Interior Minister and Hlas chief Matúš Šutaj Eštok claims that Smer is no longer blocking Peter Kažimír from heading the National Bank of Slovakia and that the nomination will not change — meaning that, according to Hlas, the governor's seat is not an open question. ta3 ↗

Summer will be a battle over the budget

The daily SME summed up the marathon of weekend discussion programs in one sentence: the coalition "has drifted into the summer break" and summer will be a battle over the budget. SME ↗ On Wednesday, June 24, Danko will negotiate with Finance Minister Ladislav Kamenický, and he has already rejected a balanced budget in advance — "tell me which EU state has one" — pushing instead for the state to take out a targeted loan for completing the highway network. "The most expensive highway is the one that doesn't get built," he argued; elsewhere he specified that he could imagine a loan of up to 20 billion euros for the completion works. SITA ↗

The reality of the state coffers points the opposite way. That same weekend, Pravda's economics desk reported that the state is in fact cutting its "megalomaniac" budget and pushing strategic sections, including the highway to Košice, back beyond 2030. Pravda ↗ A fourth consolidation package looms: Deputy Prime Minister Denisa Saková (Hlas) refuses to save money "at people's expense," but has not yet revealed specific figures, while the opposition SaS warns that the state already lacks money even for officials' salaries. Pravda ↗

Under the radar

The weekend's most significant judicial moment slipped past the main headlines. Supreme Court judge Juraj Kliment, in an interview for Postoj, claims that the appellate panel that overturned former prosecutor Kováčik's convictions may have been unlawfully composed — and that the court missed the opportunity to name the political background behind disciplinary proceedings against judges. Postoj ↗

Further beneath the surface: SME's morning briefing frames it as a failed attempt by Justice Minister Boris Susko (Smer) to help convicted former tax authority chief František Imrecze. SME ↗ Korzár, meanwhile, covered a party for Governor Kažimír's partner held right inside the NBS building — a bank employee disputes the official defense that it was a routine event. Korzár ↗ And the appointment of Radačovský as ambassador to Cyprus itself drew criticism that the coalition "is bringing shame on Slovakia and exporting it to other countries." Pravda ↗

Also read: Danko announced SNS's candidate, Gröhling attacked Fico

What hotinfo is watching

• Wednesday, June 24 — Danko's negotiation with Finance Minister Kamenický on next year's budget; we're watching whether SNS actually pushes through the abolition of the transaction tax for self-employed people.
• Next week — SNS is due to present its candidate for the Prešov region; in September, a decision will be made on Tomáš Taraba's successor at the Ministry of Environment.
• National Bank — whether and when a final decision comes on Peter Kažimír as governor, after Smer, according to Šutaj Eštok, stopped blocking his nomination.
• The Kováčik case — whether the Judicial Council or constitutional institutions will address the doubts about the composition of the appellate panel.
• Autumn budget — under pressure from the constitutional debt brake; we're waiting for concrete contours of the fourth consolidation package and where the cuts will fall.