The ministry of foreign and European affairs announced that from the 2 April 2025 EU citizens will need an electronic travel authorisation (ETA) to enter the UK. Applicants can start applying for authorization as of 5 march 2025. Unless there is a change of passport, the authorization will be valid for 2 years.
President Peter Pellegrini left on Sunday for New York, where he was slated to take part in a session of the UN General Assembly and deliver a speech at the Summit of Future, he was joined by the Chief of Slovak diplomacy Juraj Blanar. While in New York the President invited the UN secretary general to visit Slovakia and suggested visiting during the international forum on artificial intelligence that will be organised by the Education Ministry in cooperation with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in the autumn next year.
Speaking at the UN the President said the UN Security Council is weakened by internal conflicts, frequent vetoes of important resolutions and the failure to address violations of international law and power politics instead of peace efforts. He added that the confidence of UN-member states in the Council's ability to respond to crises around the world has been undermined as a result. In his view, the principles of international cooperation on which the security architecture has stood since the Second World War are currently under threat. "Without them, the international order as we know it will collapse and end in chaos and violence. This is unacceptable for Slovakia as a long-standing and steadfast supporter of multilateralism," stressed Pellegrini.
The president emphasised the need to respect internationally recognised national borders and lambasted certain countries - without naming them - for not respecting the UN and the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
Prime Minister Robert Fico attended a meeting of premiers and the European commission in Wroclaw Poland and announced that Slovakia will receive €1 billion of the €10-billion package from EU cohesion funds to deal with the consequences of the recent floods.
The Slovak government's recent economic consolidation measures sparked strong reactions from employers, trade unions, and opposition parties. Employers worry these measures will harm Slovakia’s EU competitiveness, focusing more on increasing revenue than on cutting public spending, potentially leading to a GDP decline and reduced foreign investment. The Confederation of Trade Unions warns that low-income earners will bear the brunt of increased costs. In the tourism sector, employers oppose a proposed 23% VAT on accommodation services, fearing a €270 million revenue loss and thousands of job cuts. Parliament began debating the consolidation package on Thursday.
On the invitation of the Prime minister, opposition leaders met with leaders of the government to discuss the consolidation of public finances. According to Robert Fico they could only agreed on the fact that financial consolidation is necessary, but they have different views on how to save, with the opposition not knowing where it would obtain the necessary €2.7 billion.
Junior coalition party Hlas-SD requested Prime Minister Robert Fico convene a meeting of coalition leaders to resolve problems brewing within the coalition without delay. Hlas leader Matus Sutaj Estok reiterated his criticism of statements made by SNS chair Andrej Danko against several government ministers of Hlas-SD and underlined that attempts to destabilise the coalition will not help Danko become the House chair. Danko rejected the accusations raised by Hlas, and went as far as to say that he is prepared to relinquish his post of House Vice-chair if it helps resolve the conflict.
An informal meeting of EU foreign ministers on the situation in Ukraine and the Middle East was held in New York, on the sidelines of a session of the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, with Slovakia represented by its chief of diplomacy Juraj Blanar. According to Blanar, Slovakia supports the organisation of a second peace summit on Ukraine, but it must be attended by "all sides to the conflict".
Later in the week he addressed the UN security council where he urged global powers to seek a peaceful solution to the war in Ukraine. Blanar was enabled to deliver a speech by Slovenia, which, as a presiding state of the Security Council, urged Ukraine's neighbours to speak their minds on the ongoing conflict. The future of Ukraine, in Blanar's view, is in the EU. He also informed members of the UN Security Council about a planned joint session of the Slovak and Ukrainian Governments, and Slovakia's readiness to supply electricity, gas and diesel to Ukraine even in the upcoming winter. "First and foremost, we take the people into account," he explained.
Slovak Freign minister Juraj Blanár met his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, with whom he spoke primarily about Slovak interests in the field of energy security. He also reiterated the Slovak government's consistent view on the conflict in Ukraine, stressing the violation of international law and the need to find a peaceful solution.Progressive Slovakia MP Lucia Plavakova on Wednesday was expelled from the Parliament chamber by House Vice-chair Andrej Danko (SNS) because of stickers on her laptop, which included symbols supporting the LGBTI community. Danko expelled Plavakova from the chamber because he was of the opinion that the stickers on her laptop were an advertisement, which is against the parliamentary Rules of Procedure. Plavakova, however, filed a motion against the decision, with MPs upholding her complaint in a vote. However later in the day, Plavakova was expelled yet again, this time by house vice chair Tibor Gaspar from Smer. This time without the support of Hlas MPs here motion was not upheld.
Female MPs from parliamentary opposition parties condemned coalition representatives' attacks against women at an ensuing press conference. Especially mentioned by Plavakova was SNS MP Rudolf Huliak, who called her a b*tch at the aforementioned coalition press conference In Plavakova’s opinion he should give up his seat in Parliament, opining that the entire coalition should apologise. Moreover, Plavakova noted that she also expects a reaction from President Peter Pellegrini. The MP added that she'll take all available legal action.
Later in the day the president spoke against vulgarisms in Parliament, opining that those who use such words should "pull the handbrake" and return to civilised debate.
The Government Office received an envelope that was addressed to PM Fico and contained a bullet. It's only a matter of time before the police track down the individual who sent a bullet in an envelope to Prime Minister, Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok said on Wednesday.The police are already investigating.
Friday night in Bratislava, Kosice, Banska bystrica, Zilina and Poprad joined the largest science popularization event in Europe call European night of science. Climate change, biodiversity, artificial intelligence and mental health were hot topics at the event. Numerous experiments, practical demonstrations of robotics and lectures awaited visitors. They were also be able to talk to foreign and Slovak scientists about the role of science in society. The science festival took place on the same day in parallel in 25 European countries.
