What Slovakia writes about: Parliament can be recalled by popular vote. This government will not be affected.

On Wednesday, the government approved a constitutional amendment that would allow citizens to recall the National Council through a popular vote, but it would not apply to the current election period and will not pass without opposition votes. Marcela Martonová resigned from the helm of the supervisory board of Energetika Slovensko, and Interior Minister Matúš Šutaj Eštok commented on the case for the first time, saying he had never seen her in his life. The same government also approved a single acceleration zone for wind parks, which some editorial offices described as a green light for wind energy and others as a concession to Tomáš Taraba.

Government Approved Constitutional Amendment. Won't Affect Its Own Electoral Term

The proposal for discussion was submitted by the ministry of justice, i.e., the department of Boris Susko from Smer. This is an answer to the question we left open on Monday, when the coalition party Hlas submitted to parliament its own amendment on shortening the electoral term by referendum and Susko had prepared a different version. The government chose Susko's. STVR ↗

Read also: Fico wants to abolish transaction tax. Hlas proposes referendum on shortening electoral term

The parameters are strict. The president would declare a popular vote if at least 350,000 voters petitioned for it. Parliament would be considered dismissed if a three-fifths majority of the number of voters who participated in the previous parliamentary elections voted for it, i.e., the quorum is flexible and derived from actual turnout. The vote could not be called in the first or last six months of parliament's electoral term, in the last six months of the president's term or during martial law, and could be held only once per electoral term. After dismissal, the chair of parliament would have to call elections within seven days and they would be held within 110 days at the latest. Trend ↗

The difference between the editorials was not in the numbers, but in what they considered headline information. Pravda put in the headline "Greater power for citizens," Štandard factually "Citizens could prematurely dismiss parliament," Hospodárske noviny, SITA and Aktuality.sk stuck with a neutral description of the approved proposal. Štandard ↗ Hospodárske noviny ↗ SITA ↗ Aktuality.sk ↗ Refresher as the only one highlighted what makes this something different, namely that the new rules would begin to apply only after the end of the current electoral term. Refresher ↗ Pravda ↗

That's exactly where the opposition was aimed. SaS MP Mária Kolíková called the timing cowardly. "I consider it cowardly if the government approves the possibility of ending the electoral term at the end of its rule so that it no longer affects it," she said and added that referendums on ending governments are destabilizing as a rule. Movement Slovakia called the initiative insincere with the remark that it submitted a similar proposal to parliament at the beginning of this electoral term. Progressive Slovakia, through Michal Šimečka, announced that it would not support coalition constitutional proposals. A constitutional change, however, requires 90 votes, so it won't pass without the opposition. STVR ↗ STVR ↗

The amendment also has another politically important part that didn't make it into most headlines at all, although Kolíková placed it first. It changes the rules for dismissing members of the Judicial Council. Today a member can be dismissed at any time; from now on it would only be possible in case of poor health, neglect of duties, conviction for an intentional crime, conviction to a sentence of imprisonment, or appointment as a judge. The ministry presents this as a response to objections from the European Commission; Kolíková sees in it the concrete cementing of nominees of the current coalition and the president. Both interpretations are factually defensible, and politically the dispute will also be read through who benefits from the current composition of the council. STVR ↗

One Wind Zone Instead of Eight. Green or Concession?

The government approved a strategic document on acceleration zones for wind energy, which is part of the recovery plan. Pravda wrote about it that wind energy is getting the green light and the government approved a pilot acceleration zone. Denník N about the same government and the same document wrote that Taraba cut down the proposal of the Minister of Economy Denisa Saková from eight zones to one, the government conceded to him and will go with it before the European Commission, although the milestone in the recovery plan mentions at least two zones. Pravda ↗ Denník N ↗

It's the same fact, just once as energy policy and once as coalition arithmetic. The decisive piece of information, however, is something only one of these two versions has, namely the number of zones that Slovakia promised to the Commission. Without it, the reader doesn't know if the government started something or failed to fulfill something. The zone also has a second layer that gets lost in the dispute about Taraba. Its administrator will be JESS, the same nuclear company that Fico moved under the Office of the Government last week, so the wind pilot project is getting into the hands of a company preparing a new nuclear source. And Trend pointed out that local governments should ultimately decide on the actual construction of wind parks. teraz.sk ↗ Trend ↗

Šutaj Eštok on the cosmetician affair for the first time: I've never seen her in my life

Marcela Martonová delivered her resignation from the position of chairwoman of the supervisory board of Energetika Slovensko to the Ministry of Economy on Wednesday. She cited media coverage and intrusions into her privacy as the reason. The Ministry of Economy under Denisa Sakova nominated her to the supervisory board in November 2025, and the nomination was subsequently approved by the company's second shareholder. The Stop Corruption Foundation pointed this out only this week, noting that Martonová is the wife of police investigator Mikuláš Marton, who has repeatedly rejected a criminal complaint regarding Interior Minister Šutaj Eštok's trip to the Formula 1 races in Abu Dhabi, despite the prosecutor returning the case to him twice with reservations according to the foundation. STVR ↗ Štandard ↗

The Ministry attempted to defend the nomination even before her departure. It claimed that Martonová met all legal requirements, that it evaluated the nomination based on her professional resume and long-standing managerial experience, and that specialized experience directly in the energy sector was not a requirement. It also added that a selection process is not conducted for supervisory board members. That is exactly the core of the dispute, because the opposition Slovakia's Future movement, through Michal Šipoš, is demanding that Sakova release all documents related to the nomination and is threatening to collect signatures for her recall together with Šutaj Eštok. Refresher ↗ SME ↗

The Interior Minister and chairman of Hlas spoke on the matter for the first time. He rejected the connection between Martonová's position and the investigation of his case as fiction and fabrication, spoke of a lynch mob, and claimed that he had never seen Martonová in his life. The opposition considers her resignation insufficient, because her departure from the position does not answer the question of how she got into it in the first place. Hospodárske noviny ↗ SME ↗

The case was also noticed in the Czech Republic. iROZHLAS built its story around a single sentence from Martonová herself, who defended her qualification for the supervisory board of the billion-crown energy company by claiming that she had the equivalent of a legal education. iROZHLAS ↗

Danko wants Taraba's removal, Šutaj Eštok wants a guarantee for the majority

The dispute between SNS and its own nominee moved a step further on Wednesday. Party chairman Andrej Danko is calling for Taraba to step down from the environment ministry, state secretary Filip Kuffa called him an agent sabotaging pro-national forces in a video, and Sports Minister Rudolf Huliak, when asked where Taraba will end up, answered that he didn't know, and added that in his view he won't return to parliament. Aktuality.sk ↗

New is the condition expressed by Šutaj Eštok. He told Danko that in the event of Taraba's possible removal, he must guarantee that it will not affect the stability of the coalition majority in parliament. A political scientist interviewed by SITA elaborated on this into a specific scenario, according to which Taraba's return to parliamentary benches could mean a government collapse and blocking of laws. That is why the question of his departure is different from a typical personnel change. The coalition has a tight majority and Taraba would not disappear from parliamentary mathematics outside the government—he would only shift within it. SITA ↗ Pravda ↗

What the government approved alongside the constitutional amendment

According to the government-approved proposal, social networks for children under 16 should be regulated, and age would be verified in such a way that the operator would receive only information about meeting the condition without further data. Most newsrooms described it as a ban on Facebook, Instagram or TikTok for children. Formally, however, it is a law on an integrated system of protection against radicalization and mobilization to violence from the Education Ministry, so the age limit is one of the measures in a regulation about something else. Implementation is expected from 2027. STVR ↗ Hospodárske noviny ↗

The proposal also bears a coalition mark. Minister of Investment Samuel Migaľ claims that he agreed with Education Minister Tomáš Drucker on a joint proposal, but the education ministry submitted it to the government without the ministry of investment. "Hlas has once again 'kept' the agreement in its own way," Migaľ wrote. Drucker explained it differently, saying that the ministry of investment backed down from its own law and joined the education ministry. teraz.sk ↗

The child allowance is to be extended until age 26, while penalties for school truancy are to be tightened and the state will be able to stop payments. Denník N noted that the sanction could also affect municipalities. Labor Minister Erik Tomáš claims that the social partners supported the package. The government further approved sending up to 101 soldiers to the Eastern Flank operation to protect the airspace of NATO's eastern flank, they are to operate primarily in Poland and Romania, and the mandate still needs to be approved by parliament. Aktuality.sk ↗ Denník N ↗ Aktuality.sk ↗

Outside of government proceedings, President Peter Pellegrini rejected the protest of General Prosecutor Maroš Žilinka and did not revoke the sanction imposed on SIS Director Pavol Gašpar for a traffic accident in Nitra. He justified it by saying that the director of the secret service has greater responsibility than an ordinary citizen. SITA ↗ Refresher ↗

Under the Radar

The government also approved a faster mechanism for banning new psychoactive substances and is targeting so-called pink vending machines. These are vending machines with substances that are sold as sweets and after which children end up in emergency rooms. Health Minister Kamil Šaško described the previous situation as a cat-and-mouse game in which the state was losing, because manufacturers bypassed the ban on one substance with a minor change to the molecule and the new product was legal again. New rules are to enable intervention faster than before. Pravda ↗ Živé.sk ↗

The coalition finally presented a candidate for Bratislava region governor, whom we have been waiting for since the deadline for candidate lists. Smer, Hlas and SNS are putting up Rastislav Gajarský, the district chairman of Hlas in Bratislava, against Juraj Drob, who is little known to the public. During Drob's first term, he headed the company through which the region ensures the maintenance of its roads; previously he worked at the city hall under Milan Ftáčnik. Seven candidates are running for the position. SME ↗ SITA ↗

What hotinfo is watching

Illustrative photo: Main building of the National Council of the Slovak Republic in Bratislava. Author Robert von Oliva (naruciakk), license CC0, Wikimedia Commons.