The Economy Ministry published a package of measures to support economic growth in Slovakia, which were then to be discussed by the Economic and Social Council (tripartite) later on Tuesday.
The measures concern, for example, electricity prices, the use of the modernisation fund, reducing red-tape and increasing funding for energy-intensive companies from revenues generated by the sale of emission allowances. All the measures form part of a single bill.
"The bill contains an initial set of measures aimed at reducing costs for the business sector, including a reduction in excise tax on electricity, as well as the simplification or scrapping of some bureaucratic reporting and administrative obligations of business entities," said the Economy Ministry in its commentary on the new legislation.
According to the Economy Ministry, the measures should reduce energy and administrative costs for businesses, increase investment activities and support for innovation, and improve the business environment by cutting red tape. They should also make labour more available, including qualified workers from abroad, strengthen regional development, and make the use of public and EU funds more efficient.
According to the document, investments should be supported, for example, by setting up a Slovak Regional Development Fund, creating an Innovation Fund for Slovak regions, and providing grant support for highly innovative projects. By the end of September, the Finance Ministry should examine options for making Slovakia's tax and levy policy more attractive, as well as options for increasing and improving the flexibility of the super-deduction for research and development.
The Education Ministry has been tasked with examining options for administrative measures to streamline and speed up the process of recognising educational qualifications. For example, the language requirements for recognising the foreign qualifications of foreigners should be reconsidered.
The Economy Ministry has also included bills that have already been submitted to Parliament among the measures. These include, for example, allowing young people as of the age of 16
to set up a limited-liability company, and adjusting the minimum social contribution arrangements for self-employed people in line with their income levels.
According to the opposition the measures aimed at supporting the economy, as published by the Economy Ministry are weak and late to arrive, and the government is putting most of them off until the autumn.
KDH described the presented measures as an election leaflet. "Our economic growth plummeted sharply in 2025, and we need a proper boost now. However, the government is offering only minor cosmetic changes, tasking itself with merely analysing or examining many measures until the autumn or the end of the year," stated KDH chair Milan Majersky.
The document submitted to the tripartite session contains 38 planned measures to be prepared by individual ministries this year, while some of them are to be drawn up as late as in the election year of 2027. The proposal also includes the legislative wording of several other measures, including a reduction in excise tax on electricity for selected entities.
"Reducing the price of electricity for large consumers is indeed a welcome step, but in reality it's just a drop in the ocean. The real problem is that Slovak businesses are paying some of the highest energy prices in the EU just because of this government's regulatory decisions," stated KDH MP Rastislav Kratky.
PS MP Štefan Kišš criticised the fact that a third of the proposed measures are only going to be examined by the government. "In the third year of this government, you're just going to examine the impacts of measures? With the economy on the brink of recession and entrepreneurs and people no longer able to manage, you're just going to reassess something. There are measures that won't do any harm, but they won't help anything, either. This isn't real help," he stated.
PS MP Ivan Štefunko added that, first and foremost, there's a need to scrap the transaction tax, cut taxes and levies on labour and simplify the tax system.
Opposition party SaS considers the presented package of measures to be a great disappointment for entrepreneurs, the self-employed and employees. After months of promises, the government has failed to come up with pro-growth reform, presenting only a document full of analyses, assessments and vague intentions that won't help the Slovak economy. SaS MP Marian Viskupič said that it's questionable how this will help companies that are struggling with high taxes, levies, the transaction tax and a shortage of investment.
Source: TASR
