What is Slovakia writing about: Government abolishes resolutions on parks. Slovalco resumes aluminum production after three years

The government at a Friday off-site meeting in Hliník nad Hronom cancelled its own resolutions on national park zoning, which critics linked to €450 million from the recovery plan. On the same day and in the same region, Prime Minister Robert Fico announced the restart of the Slovalco aluminium smelter and the environment ministry announced investments of nearly €115 million in surrounding districts. A new survey by the AKO agency puts Progressive Slovakia at 21 percent, but its data collection ended before coalition disputes fully escalated.

The Government Cancelled Resolutions That Its Own State Secretary Warned Against

The cancelled resolutions stated that the state-owned enterprise Forests of Slovakia was to ensure expert forest management and care for forest land and stands also in the territories of national parks. According to critics, the territories would formally pass under the management of national parks, but in reality would remain in the hands of the state-owned enterprise. The Ministry of Environment claims that the resolutions lost substantive justification already through a cooperation memorandum, which it signed with the agriculture ministry on August 6. Štandard ↗

The state secretary of the environment ministry Filip Kuffa, the opposition, and environmental organizations had been warning since early July that the resolutions endangered 450 million euros from the recovery plan, but the ministry consistently denied it. The European Commission confirmed that it is monitoring the situation and assessing all raised concerns. After Friday's decision, Kuffa is demanding an apology from environment minister Tomáš Taraba and from agriculture minister Richard Takáč. ta3 ↗

The editorial offices disagreed on what was essential about the decision. Denník N described it in the headline as a cancellation of Taraba's interventions, through which the government is saving money from the recovery plan. Štandard explicitly attributed the 450 million sum to critics and included the ministry's position that the resolutions lost justification already through the memorandum. Hospodárske noviny and STVR stuck to the bare fact, Trend chose a frame that Slovakia could have lost millions. MP Tamara Stohlová from Progressive Slovakia says that Taraba had to back down and that the government contradicted in the resolutions a principle to which it committed in the recovery plan. Michal Kiča from the Democrats points out that what will be crucial is tracking the transfer of state forest land, which is to take place by October 15. Denník N ↗ Trend ↗ TASR ↗

Smelter Restart and Money for Districts in One Day

Slovalco in Žiar nad Hronom on Friday officially launched the resumption of primary aluminum production after more than three years of downtime. In the first phase it will restore capacity of 75,000 tons of aluminum annually and by the end of February 2027, one hundred of the total 226 furnaces are to be operational. The shareholders shut down the factory at the beginning of 2023 due to high electricity prices, laid off dozens of people, and operated only a remelting line for aluminum scrap recycling. The restoration of the remainder of the total capacity of approximately 175,000 tons will depend primarily on whether electricity will be available at a price at which the factory will remain competitive, according to general director Milan Veselý. Aktuality.sk ↗

The Prime Minister on site said that the restart will strengthen Slovak and European independence in aluminum production and that the plant could in the future produce 17 percent of total aluminum production in the European Union. STVR ↗ Aktuality.sk ↗

The editorial offices disagreed, however, on what exactly happened on Friday. Aktuality wrote that the first electrolyzers began operating on Friday, August 28, Štandard put in the headline that the furnaces would start up on Saturday, and Denník N quoted the Prime Minister directly from the plant: "Tomorrow the first furnaces will start heating up." The second difference was in who, besides the Prime Minister, they included in the headline. TASR, STVR, and Trend wrote a purely economic report on the resumption of production. Aktuality and Denník N also featured Jaroslav Haščák in the headline, who represented Penta in Žiar, the co-owner of the factory with Norwegian Hydro. Denník N was the only one to add that the restart was also made possible by the support the government prepared for industry and a contract for electricity from the state company. Denník N ↗ Trend ↗

That same government at the same meeting approved over 3.3 million euros for the Pohronie and Hont districts for schools, roads, and culture, and minister Taraba announced investments of almost 115 million euros in the Veľký Krtíš, Krupina, Žiar nad Hronom, and Zvolen districts. Eight weeks remain until the combined municipal and regional elections. SME ↗ Hospodárske noviny ↗

The Survey That Didn't Yet Catch the Coalition War

According to a survey by the AKO agency for Joj 24 television, Progressive Slovakia would win the elections with 21 percent, Smer-SD would have 17.7 percent, and Republika 9.8 percent. Followed by SaS and Hlas-SD tied with 8.8 percent, KDH with 7.8, and Hnutie Slovensko with 7.7 percent. The coalition SNS with 4.7 percent would not make it into parliament, nor would the non-parliamentary Democrats with 4.3 percent. Data collection took place from August 6 to 14 on a sample of one thousand respondents. STVR ↗

The majority of headlines omitted precisely that date. Denník SME was the only one to explain what the survey could not capture: the dispute between Andrej Danko and Tomáš Taraba flared up fully only on August 16, the Prime Minister faced the media on August 17 after his vacation, and the government held its first meeting on August 19. The survey could have captured the case of Russian cameras, which was written about from the beginning of August, but according to it, Hlas improved slightly compared to July. Other editorial offices put the fall of Democrats in the headline, Aktuality as a hard fall, Hospodárske noviny as that Democrats have a problem, and Refresher as SNS ahead of Democrats. The TASR agency headline, however, mentions July, although it is an August survey and STVR cites the same numbers under August. SME ↗ Aktuality.sk ↗ Hospodárske noviny ↗ TASR ↗

Fourth person detained in drone factory case

Police detained a fourth person in Košice on Friday suspected of cooperating on a planned arson attack on a facility for manufacturing unmanned systems in Haniska near Prešov. Police President Jana Maškarová announced this and revealed the timeline of the operation for the first time. Deputy Director of the Office for Combating Organized Crime Peter Brndiar added that legal proceedings are underway with a person of Ukrainian nationality. SITA ↗ Aktuality.sk ↗

German police detained a 26-year-old Latvian on Tuesday in Hamburg on a European warrant issued by a Slovak court, and Slovakia requested his extradition. According to the weekly Der Spiegel, he was to prepare an arson attack together with another Latvian and a Ukrainian citizen on behalf of unnamed third parties. No one has officially named who ordered the attack. Minister of Tourism and Sports Rudolf Huliak declared before a government session that the Security Council should convene regarding the foiled attack. Refresher ↗ Hospodárske noviny ↗

Who was behind the preparation remains open and so far only versions are in play. Denník N received an email in which a previously unknown group called Global Citizens Against War 1984 claimed responsibility for the failed arson, but no one confirmed the authenticity of the claim. ta3 ↗ The managers of Skyeton, a company employing approximately 70 people near Prešov, spoke of Russians in their statement. According to Denník N, at least two versions are under consideration: either the Russian side hires citizens of member states and immigrants from Ukraine for operations in the European Union, or it is a similar type of attacker as in the March arson attacks. Defense Minister Robert Kaliňák indirectly confirmed after an earlier government session that the originally accused trio consisted of two Latvians and one Ukrainian. Denník N ↗

Read also: Police foiled a napalm attack on Slovak drone manufacturing plant. Three European arms factories burned in five days

Recall petition over nomination at Energetika Slovensko

The Ministry of Economy maintains that Ľuboš Micheľ, whom Hospodárske noviny identifies as a nominee of Voice-SD, met all legal requirements and selection criteria for a position on the board of the state-owned company Energetika Slovensko. Opposition movement Slovakia is nonetheless collecting signatures for a recall of Economy Minister Denisa Saková and Interior Minister Matúš Šutaj Eštok over controversial nominations at the same company. We wrote about Marcela Martonova's nomination to its supervisory board, which is where the dispute began, in Thursday's issue. Hospodárske noviny ↗ Aktuality.sk ↗

Under the radar

The Supreme Audit Office released an audit according to which the Constitutional Court operated under budget uncertainty. The budgets approved in 2023 and 2024 did not account for the real needs of the court office, and the 2023 budget did not even cover expenses from contractual obligations concluded in 2022 for the expansion and modernization of the information system. Between 2023 and 2025, the budget was increased by an additional six to twenty-four percent, and an average of seventeen budget measures were adopted each year. Deputy Head of the Office Jaroslav Ivančo says that independent state institutions should not have to deal with whether they receive money for their legal activities instead of fulfilling their constitutional mission. TASR ↗

The second thing that barely made it into nationwide headlines: according to the regional portal Prešovák, Health Minister Kamil Šaska, Agriculture Minister Richard Takáč, Interior Minister Matúš Šutaj Eštok, and Deputy Speaker Tibor Gašpar were welcomed at the Bardejov fair on Thursday with applause as well as whistles and booing. České Novinky, which picked up the story, mentioned only Gašpar and Šutaj Eštok from that quartet, so it's impossible to tell from a distance exactly at whom the whistling was directed. Prešovák compared it to the Culture Minister being whistled at a festival in Východná a year ago; the politicians themselves didn't comment and thanked social media for the warm reception. Denník N took something different from the same fair: MEP and candidate for Prešov county chair Judita Laššáková from Direction didn't get whistled at, campaigned there, and if elected would not give up her MEP mandate. Prešovák ↗ Novinky.cz ↗ Denník N ↗

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Illustrative photo: Office of the Government of the Slovak Republic in Bratislava, where the government regularly meets. Author Kiwiev, license CC0, Wikimedia Commons.