PM Eduard Heger announces on October 24 how his cabinet is going to help firms affected by the energy crisis in 2023. (source: TASR - Pavel Neubauer)
Slovakia is likely to enter the new year without a state budget.
Following the vote of no confidence in the Heger government last week, the leaders of parliamentary parties met for a meeting on December 19. They were expected to come up with a deal on how to proceed with an early election as well as the state budget. Following the meeting, however, Speaker of Parliament Boris Kollár of Sme Rodina said that the December session of the parliament will most likely be adjourned until January 10.
If so, it will be the first time since 1999 that Slovakia will enter the year with just a provisional budget.
Slovakia could thus start 2023 with a provisional budget. This means that the government, which resigned on December 16 and which President Zuzana Čaputová subsequently assigned to rule the country with limited powers until the new government forms as the result of an early election, will only be able to spend one twelfth of the 2022 budget each month of 2023, until a proper state budget is passed. Without the budget, the state aid to households and companies with steeply increased energy prices is threatened.
