What Slovakia is writing about: Only the coalition applauded Pellegrini's state-of-the-republic address. Kaliňák faces criticism from within the coalition too 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 spokesman”. On the same day, parliament was not quorate even on its second attempt to debate the removal of Economy Minister Denisa Saková and Interior Minister Matúš Šutaj Eštok; both votes have been postponed until Thursday. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Fico definitively took oversight of the construction of the new nuclear power plant in Jaslovské Bohunice away from Saková and entrusted it to his own government commissioner, while Defence Minister Robert Kaliňák faced criticism from within his own coalition over more than half a million euros earned by his firm for consultancy work for Czech arms businessman Michal Strnad.

Pellegrini criticised the opposition and the 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. Whereas opposition MPs interrupted his speech with applause twice last year and coalition MPs once, the ratio was reversed this time — government MPs applauded him three times for criticising the opposition for not cooperating on strategic documents and not attending his round tables, while not a single clap came from the opposition benches. Denník N ↗ In its overview of reactions, SME summarised the coalition's view as one of a balanced speech, while the opposition called it extremely political and devoid of criticism of the current government — Health Minister Kamil Šaško described it as non-partisan, while SaS deputy leader Branislav Gröhling called it one of the weakest speeches he had ever heard. SME ↗

The Postoj news portal juxtaposed the speech with Ursula von der Leyen's Wednesday address on the state of the Union — while the European Commission president, it said, 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 inclined towards the government from which he emerged. Postoj ↗ Political scientists approached by Pravda judged 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 divergent assessments escalated into a direct dispute across both the coalition and the opposition. PS leader Michal Šimečka called the speech extremely political, said it could not be considered a genuine report on 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 impact of fiscal consolidation on people's living standards. Pravda ↗ According to Hospodárske noviny, Šimečka also said that the president himself bore responsibility for the country's current state and had, in his view, downplayed the Russian threat — former Foreign Minister Ivan Korčok also referred to this. Hospodárske noviny ↗

Attempts to remove Saková and Šutaj Eštok failed for lack of a quorum; both move to Thursday

On Wednesday, the opposition made a second attempt in extraordinary sessions to remove Economy Minister Denisa Saková and Interior Minister Matúš Šutaj Eštok (both Hlas-SD) — neither attempt reached a quorum: only 61 MPs attended the vote on Saková and 59 the vote on Šutaj Eštok. Aktuality ↗ The motion to remove Saková was initiated by the Hnutie Slovensko movement together with other opposition parties, which criticised 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 effort to remove Šutaj Eštok political theatre — spokesperson Matej Neumann noted that the opposition repeatedly fails to secure even the votes of its own MPs, and that the minister is ready to face the removal attempt “factually and with concrete arguments”. TASR ↗ Both attempts have been moved to Thursday — Saková is to be debated 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 almost an hour at a press conference defending his relationship with Czech arms businessman Michal Strnad, majority owner of the Czechoslovak Group (CSG) holding company — 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 rejects a conflict of interest. SME ↗ The information was reported by Czech investigative journalists, who obtained documents showing exactly what the Slovak minister's firm was paid for. STVR ↗ Denník N identified four weak points in the press conference — besides the legal risk of a conflict of interest, Kaliňák distracted attention with attacks on opposition MPs and ESET, which allegedly pays lower taxes than Strnad's arms factories, and acted personally towards female journalists, telling them to “pop to the loo” when they tried to interrupt his monologue. Denník N ↗

Criticism also came from within his own coalition — before the government meeting, Tourism and Sport Minister Rudolf Huliak (SNS) declared that the relationship between Kaliňák's and Strnad's companies “is not right”, while Investment Minister Samuel Migaľ called it a possible conflict of interest. Aktuality ↗ The affair also had an unexpected aftermath — on the same day, a fire broke out on the roof of a production hall at Strnad's group's industrial site in Snina, where metal projectiles are manufactured. Kaliňák attributed the cause to the ongoing roof reconstruction, which was being carried out by an external company; the investigation is still to determine the exact cause and extent of the damage. TASR ↗

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 by her civic association Projekt Fórum; the charges were extended to her former colleague Andrea Puková, and proceedings were also initiated 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 ↗

Even before the official charges, the case was stirred up by businessman Zoroslav Kollár, who has recently been financially supporting opposition politics — he published a document that he claims confirms 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 changes captains, while fuel and hospitals add to the troubles

The government dispute over the new nuclear power 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 entrusted it to government commissioner for the development of nuclear energy Peter Líška, who had previously had only an advisory role. Aktuality ↗ Denník N ↗ The government also declared the project (capacity 1,200 megawatts, estimated cost €10.9 billion, strategic partner American company Westinghouse) a strategic investment, which should speed up the permitting process — the application for a zoning decision must be submitted by 31 March 2027. SME ↗ The dispute also continues over the price at which state-owned JAVYS is to buy ČEZ's 49-percent stake in JESS — an independent KPMG assessment confirmed an estimate of €189.4 million, while the opposition Demokrati party considers the amount inflated.

On another front, fuel prices were making headlines — before the government, Slovnaft's chief warned of panic on the oil market and the possible price of diesel exceeding two euros per litre; the cabinet asked him to show restraint in pricing, while the opposition is harshly criticising the government's abandonment of its promises of cheaper fuel. ta3 ↗ INEKO analyst Dušan Zachar also drew attention to another, quieter item in the state budget — hospitals owe the Social Insurance Agency €921 million, and in his view the current system of repeated state debt relief functions more as a reward for incurring debt than as a sanction. Startitup.sk ↗

Under the radar

SaS called on parliamentary speaker Richard Raši to remove Tibor Gašpar (Smer-SD) from the post of 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 entered the political scene — former Smer MEP Boris Zala, together with Daniel Rabin and historian Stanislav Mičev, launched a petition drive for the new Ľudskosť a Prosperita party, whose goal, according to Zala, is to put “Igor Matovič and Robert Fico” in opposition. Refresher ↗ And in an interview, Sme rodina leader Boris Kollár admitted that his once-public apology to former NAKA investigator Ján Čurilla was insincere and confirmed that he would contest the next election on a joint list with Richard Sulík. Aktuality ↗

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