kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

Europaudvalget 2025
KOM (2025) 0225
Offentligt

EUROPEAN

COMMISSION

Brussels, 4.6.2025

SWD(2025) 225 final

COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT

2025 Country Report - Slovakia

Accompanying the document

Recommendation for a COUNCIL RECOMMENDATION

on the economic, social, employment, structural and budgetary policies of Slovakia

{COM(2025) 225 final}

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS AND KEY POLICY

CHALLENGES

Growth prospects are uncertain

and competitiveness is

deteriorating

The economy grew by 2.1% in 2024, but

the outlook remains uncertain.

A relatively

strong economic growth in 2024 was fuelled

mainly by household and public consumption

throughout the year. Expectations for an

increase in taxes in 2025 supported private

consumption in the last quarter of 2024.

Conversely, investment contracted in both the

third and fourth quarters of 2024, following

the robust expansion in 2023, which was

mostly due to a peak in absorption of EU

funds. A modest trade surplus supported the

continuation of growth in 2024, but

geopolitical tensions are likely to hinder its

sustainability. Exports recovered and helped

reduce Slovakia’s persistent current account

deficit, but inflationary pressures and a high

government deficit still pose a risk for the

sustainability of the external position (

) GDP

growth is forecast at 1.5% in 2025 and 1.4%

in 2026, as trade tensions erode export

activity, tame global demand and increase

uncertainty. Inflation fell to 3.2% in 2024 but

is expected to rise to 4.0% in 2025, due to the

introduction of higher taxes. The economic

outlook remains highly uncertain in view of

possible external shocks, including further

trade tensions driven by tariffs imposed by the

US.

Slovakia’s small, open and highly

industrialised economy faces increasing

competitiveness challenges.

The country’s

competitiveness is weakened by low labour

(

) The external position

refers to a country’s financial and

trade balance with the rest of the world, including

exports, imports, debt and investments.

productivity growth, which declined in 2022

and somewhat recovered in 2023 and 2024.

The recovery in labour productivity did not

keep up with increases in unit labour costs.

Together with a persistent shortage of skilled

labour, the existing large innovation gap with

other EU countries, which has widened in

recent years (see Annex 3), and the significant

drop in foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows

(see Graph 1.1) have further weakened

Slovakia’s

overall competitive position.

Graph 1.1:

FDI stock (% of GDP) in Slovakia

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2020

2021

2022

2023

Source:

Eurostat

The job market is tight, marked by

shortages and skills mismatches

The job market in Slovakia remains tight

amid strong demand.

The employment rate

remained above the EU average in 2024 (78%

vs 75.9%), and the unemployment rate

reached a historic low in Q3-2024 (5.1%, EU

average: 5.7%). However, the job market in

Slovakia is very tight and marked by shortages

of workers, especially in healthcare and

education, and skills mismatches. This is

compounded by an ageing population, which

undermines Slovakia’s growth potential and

labour productivity. In addition, various groups,

most notably women and Roma, are

under-represented in the job market, hindering

output growth (see Annex 10). -Broad-based

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

regional

disparities

socio-economic

development

–

for instance related to

demographics and the availability of basic

services and jobs

–

further contribute to

uneven economic development across the

country.

Wages have grown faster than inflation,

which however remains high.

Following a

decline in 2022 and 2023, real wages

increased by 3.8% in 2024 and are forecast to

increase by 0.9% in 2025. This is the result of

expected higher future inflation, which will

limit real wage growth (

). Despite wage

increases driven by rising inflation, which have

resulted in robust growth in unit labour costs

(ULC) of 5.0%, this trend has not led to a

commensurate increase in labour productivity,

which has experienced only modest growth of

2.2%.

The

purchasing

power

losses

experienced by households between 2021 and

2023 also contributed to a significant decline

in real disposable household income. While

wages have been increasing to compensate

for the rising inflation, pushing up the growing

unit labour costs (ULC), labour productivity

growth has been decreasing.

and diversification, most notably in the areas

of public administration, green energy, job

market and education, tax administration,

R&D, innovation and health. Innovative firms

also face insufficient access to finance due to

underdeveloped capital markets (see Section 2

and Annex 5). In parallel, to help Slovakia

transition to a modern economy, a critical

review is needed of the current growth model,

which is heavily reliant on a low-cost

workforce and concentration of productivity

gains in the manufacturing sector, which is

largely foreign-owned.

Slovakia continues to face vulnerabilities

related to competitiveness, the external

position, the housing market and

household debt.

Earlier this year, an in-depth

review was carried out as part of the

macroeconomic imbalance procedure (

). The

analysis found that, while the inflation

differential with the euro-area average has

narrowed, it remains significant, weighing on

competitiveness. In 2024, the current account

deficit worsened somewhat, large government

deficits continue to pose a risk to the external

sustainability as well as to fiscal sustainability,

and the current account deficit is forecast to

slightly increase again. Moreover, after two

decades of strong household debt growth,

higher interest rates have dampened the

demand for mortgages in the past two years.

Demand is expected to rebound as monetary

policy has been eased. Policy progress to

tackle these issues has been limited.

Structural weaknesses hinder

Slovakia’s competitiveness and

productivity

Slovakia faces structural challenges that

undermine its productivity growth and

growth

potential.

The

unpredictable

regulatory

environment,

administrative

burdens and the fragmented governance

structure heavily impact Slovakia’s capacity to

effectively implement investment projects.

This hinders, in particular, innovation and

diversification of the Slovak economy, as

investments are currently concentrated in

highly industrialised manufacturing sectors,

especially the automotive industry. Structural

reforms are needed to help improve the

business environment and trigger innovation

(

) Nominal wages are expected to increase by 5.7% in

2025.

The tax system needs to be made

fairer and more efficient

The current tax mix does not sufficiently

utilise property and environmental

taxation, and people on lower incomes

face relatively high tax wedge

(

). In the

(

) In-Depth Review for Slovakia, published on 13 May

2025, SWD(2025) 125 final.

(

) Tax wedge is defined as the ratio between the amount

of taxes paid by an average single worker and the

corresponding total labour cost for the employer.

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

current property taxation system, immovable

property is taxed based on its area rather than

its market value. This system fails to capture

rising property values and disproportionately

benefits owners of high-value properties.

Incorporating value-based aspects that

consider land value into the tax calculation

mechanism would improve revenue collection

and result in a more efficient tax mix. There is

also scope for expanding the use of

underutilised

environmental

taxation

instruments, such as waste disposal taxes and

transport taxes (see Annex 2). Furthermore,

the tax wedge is disproportionately higher for

lower-income earners than for higher-income

ones, mainly due to the limited progressivity of

the personal income tax and social

contributions. Adjusting labour taxes to reduce

the taxation of earnings from labour for lower-

income households could help lower their tax

wedge

and facilitate labour market

participation.

households benefit more from the reduced

rates for essential goods (

). The increased

corporate income tax for companies with a

yearly taxable income of over EUR 5 million

and the newly introduced financial transaction

tax create a significant tax burden for Slovak

companies. It is essential that consolidation

measures preserve investment and ensure a

growth-friendly budget composition, helping

Slovakia remain attractive to investors.

Government deficit remains

elevated in 2025 and 2026

Persistent spending measures keep the

government deficit high despite revenue-

boosting tax adjustments.

The general

government deficit rose slightly from 5.2% of

GDP in 2023 to 5.3% in 2024, despite a

decline in public spending from 48.0% of GDP

in 2023 to 47.1% in 2024. The decline in

public spending was primarily due to lower

spending financed by EU sources, while most

national spending measures remained

permanent, contributing to the higher deficit.

Conversely, government revenues experienced

a more significant decline, decreasing from

42.8% of GDP in 2023 to 41.8% in 2024,

primarily due to a reduced absorption of EU

funds. The government budget deficit is

projected to decrease to 4.9 % of GDP in

2025, driven by the consolidation package.

However, expenditure-increasing measures,

such as postponed delivery of military

equipment, a permanent 13th pension

payment, and higher spending on healthcare

and military salaries, resulted in only a slightly

lower public deficit. For 2026, the government

budget deficit is expected to remain high at

5.1%, as most spending measures are

permanent and no new consolidation package

has been announced.

Slovakia’s fiscal strategy

must

support growth while ensuring

sustainability

Despite the large consolidation package

announced by the government, additional

measures will be necessary to correct the

excessive budget deficit and ensure fiscal

sustainability.

So far, the consolidation

package, approved in 2024, has heavily

focused on increases in the value added tax

(VAT), the corporate income tax and the

financial transaction tax. These increases risk

putting a strain on consumption and reducing

incentives to invest. Moreover, higher taxes

can have an inflationary effect and further

worsen competitiveness. The recent VAT

reform increases the complexity of the tax

system in Slovakia, as in addition to the base

rate increase from 20% to 23%, a rate of 19%

(for groceries and electricity provision) and a

rate of 5% (for essential groceries, medicines,

books, and other selected goods and services)

are applied. The reform also has progressive

distributional effects, as lower-income

(

) Estimations were performed by the European

Commission, Joint Research Centre, with the

EUROMOD

tax-benefit microsimulation model.

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

Box 1:

UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Slovakia performs well on some SDG indicators related to environmental sustainability

(SDGs 6, 11, 15) but is moving away from the targets for some SDGs related to

macroeconomic stability (SDG 17).

Although there are signs that Slovakia is catching up, it is below the EU average on

SDGs related to productivity (SDGs 4, 8, 9), due partly to the relatively low participation

in and quality of its education system (see Annex 15).

The general government debt is set to

increase over the forecast period.

The

government debt-to-GDP ratio rose to 59.3%

in 2024 due to elevated spending levels and is

projected to increase further to 60.9% in 2025

and 63.0% in 2026, driven by significant

government deficits.

In 2024 and 2025, Slovakia’s net

expenditure is projected to grow below

the maximum growth.

In 2024, net

expenditure (

) in Slovakia grew by 5.4% (see

Annex 1). This increase is mainly driven by

strong expenditure-increasing discretionary

measures, like higher social benefits and

support with high energy prices. In 2025, net

expenditure is forecast by the Commission to

grow by 3.8%, which is right below the

maximum growth rate recommended by the

Council (

). The cumulative growth rate of net

expenditure in 2024 and 2025 taken together

is projected at 9.3%, which is below the

maximum recommended by the Council.

The ageing population poses challenges

for the long-term sustainability of public

finances.

Fiscal sustainability risks remain

high in the medium and long term, driven in

(

) Net expenditure is defined in Article 2(2) of Regulation

(EU) 2024/1263 as government expenditure net of (i)

interest expenditure, (ii) discretionary revenue

measures, (iii) expenditure on programmes of the Union

fully matched by revenue from Union funds, (iv)

national expenditure on co-financing of programmes

funded by the Union, (v) cyclical elements of

unemployment benefit expenditure, and (vi) one-off

and other temporary measures.

(

) Council Recommendation with a view to bringing an end

to the situation of an excessive deficit in Slovakia

(C/2025/5039) and Council Recommendation of 21

January 2025 endorsing the national medium-term

fiscal-structural plan of Slovakia (OJ C, C/2025/645,

10.2.2025, ELI:

http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2025/645/oj).

particular by rising ageing costs and an

unfavourable initial budgetary position (see

Annex 1). The demographic developments

constitute a significant fiscal challenge as they

lead to higher spending on pensions and, to a

lesser extent, also on healthcare and long-

term care costs. According to the

Commission’s 2024 Ageing Report, the old-age

dependency ratio

–

the ratio of people over 65

to people of working age, i.e. 20-64 years old

–

is expected to more than double from 2022

to 2060 as life expectancy increases. Pension

spending is estimated to increase from 9.4%

of GDP in 2024 to 11.3% in 2070, marking a

significant long-term improvement compared

to past projections (notably via to the

reintroduction of the link between life

expectancy and the retirement age). However,

pension spending is still expected to increase

over the short-to-medium term due to effect

of demographic trends and other expenditure-

increasing pension measures adopted in 2022.

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

Box 2:

Barriers to private and public investment

Slovakia faces significant barriers to unlocking both public and private investments, hindering its

economic growth potential and overall competitiveness. Investments are concentrated in highly

industrialised manufacturing sectors. Key country-specific barriers include:

•

Fragmented governance and complex regulatory environment.

The complexity of

administrative processes and the rapid pace of legislative changes create high

uncertainty for investments and doing business in Slovakia. The fragmented governance

structure, in particular at regional and local levels, and regional disparities further limit

effective planning and implementation of viable and strategic investments throughout

the country. This also slows down the absorption of EU funds.

Limited access to finance for innovative projects.

The underdeveloped capital

market and limited availability of private equity financing and venture capital hamper

the growth of innovative start-ups and small to medium-sized enterprises. In particular,

this hinders their ability to scale up and invest in research and development.

Shortage of skilled staff.

The shortage of skilled staff and lack of investment in

human capital, particularly in areas such as research and development, limit the

potential for businesses to innovate. Large regional disparities including in education

outcomes contribute to the challenge.

•

These challenges also act as a bottleneck to the implementation of EU funds. In addition,

Slovakia’s capacity to effectively implement investment projects and absorb EU funds is also

hindered by inefficient

public procurement

processes and insufficient

preparation of

investment projects.

This hinders

Slovakia’s potential for innovation and economic

diversification.

The implementation of

Slovakia’s

RRP is well under way but faces several obstacles linked to

above challenges. At present, Slovakia has fulfilled 33% of the milestones and targets in its RRP,

with assessment of the fifth payment request ongoing.

It remains important to accelerate the implementation of the cohesion policy programme. The

mid-term review offers opportunities to speed up progress and better address EU strategic

priorities related to competitiveness, defence, housing, water resilience and the energy transition.

While Slovakia has signalled interest in leveraging the Strategic Technologies for Europe

Platform under cohesion policy, Slovakia can further support the development or manufacturing

of critical technologies in the areas of digital and deep tech, clean and resource efficient

technologies, and biotechnologies.

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

INNOVATION, BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT AND

PRODUCTIVITY

Innovation and digitalisation are

key to diversifying Slovakia’s

economy

Slovakia lags behind in terms of

innovation

and

digitalisation

performance.

This is demonstrated by the

slow adoption of new technologies, low private

and public spending in research and

development (R&D), and weak digital

infrastructure and innovation output (such as

patents). Together with a fragmented

governance structure and a substandard

business environment, this hampers Slovakia’s

competitiveness potential on the global stage.

Innovation and digitalisation will need to be

key drivers for growth in Slovakia, helping to

diversify the economy and maintain a

competitive edge (see Section 1). Furthermore,

promoting clean tech initiatives and boosting

innovation related to the green transition could

offer an opportunity to diversify Slovakia's

economy by tapping into emerging industries.

Private and public R&D expenditure is

significantly below the EU average.

Private sector R&D expenditure was at a mere

0.58% of GDP in 2023, significantly below the

EU average of 1.47%. Public sector spending

was only 0.37% of GDP in 2023, compared to

the EU average of 0.72% (

). The government

committed to maintain a trajectory of annual

increases in public R&D spending, also to

create an opportunity to stimulate further

private R&D investment, which remains

critically low. The lack of R&D expenditure also

affects the healthcare sector, where Slovakia

(

) Eurostat:

https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/gba_nab

sfin07__custom_15738222/default/table?lang=en.

reports among the lowest levels of public

spending in the EU (see Annexes 3 and 14).

The adoption of digital technologies,

especially by small to medium-sized

enterprises (SMEs), remains largely below

the EU average.

Slovakia also underperforms

compared to the EU when it comes to the

adoption of advanced digital technologies,

such as artificial intelligence (AI), cloud and

data analytics. Only 62.9% of SMEs have basic

digital intensity, against an EU average of

72.9% (see Annex 3). Some steps have been

taken to improve the situation through

Recovery and Resilience Facility investments,

e.g. in projects aiming to develop and apply

top digital technologies and create digital

innovation hubs. However, there is much scope

for further efforts.

Graph 2.1:

Slovakia’s performance against two

2030 digital targets

SMEs with at least basic level

of digital intensity

62.90%

27.10%

Enterprises using AI technologies

10.78%

64.22%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

Slovakia in 2024

Still to be achieved by 2030

Source:

Eurostat

Slovakia’s digital infrastructure is

sub-par and needs improvement.

Digital

infrastructure is lagging, with very high-

capacity networks covering just 69.12% of

households in 2023 compared to the EU

average of 78.81% (see Annex 4). Fixed and

mobile network coverage, especially in rural

areas, is far below EU targets. The Ministry of

Investments, Regional Development and

Informatisation observed an investment gap

over

EUR 500 million

for

gigabit

connectivity (

), which undermines the ability

(

) As estimated based on the

2024 Geographical Survey.

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

to boost digital solutions. This may also

hamper the uptake of advanced digital

technologies. Efforts to facilitate infrastructure

deployment are ongoing, such as allowing

fibre optic networks on existing poles,

introducing a new construction law, and

adopting the Gigabit Infrastructure Act, but the

effects of these are yet to be seen. Prompt

and effective implementation of these new

measures would be beneficial.

Strengthened support for SMEs

could boost innovation and R&D

Slovakia’s R&D intensity is at 1%,

compared to the EU average of 2.2%.

The

continued implementation of ongoing reforms

and investments is needed to meet the target

of 2% R&D intensity set out in the 2023

National Strategy for Research, Development

and Innovation.

SMEs, highly prevalent in Slovakia's

private sector, face resource constraints

to invest in R&D.

While Slovakia introduced a

tax incentive system intended to stimulate

R&D spending among businesses, this system

is more beneficial for larger enterprises.

Government support for R&D could be made

more accessible to SMEs by, for instance,

offering cash refunds in addition to existing

tax incentives, or providing more targeted

competitive grant schemes. Additional support

can build further on recent efforts under the

recovery and resilience plan (RRP), for example

in the form of financial instruments supporting

innovation through the Slovak Investment

Holding. By facilitating innovation in areas

such as the green transition and cleantech,

SMEs could play a significant role in driving

sustainable development and contributing to a

diversified economic landscape.

The research and innovation environment

remains fragmented.

One measure to

address this would be to promote

collaboration between research institutions

and the private sector. To build critical mass

and drive impactful advancements it is

important to encourage mergers and pool

research institutions, while continuing to

support quality-related funding by verifying

excellent research. Replicating best practices

and insights developed under the RRP, for

instance conducting international evaluations

when awarding grants to the research

community or on knowledge transfer, would

also foster the quality of research outputs and

increase their likelihood of successful

commercialisation. Moreover, anchoring such

improvements in a binding institutional

framework would help bring about a

streamlined ecosystem with clearly assigned

responsibilities, increased predictability, and

better incentives for the scientific community

to engage in R&D (see Annex 3).

Capital market is not sufficiently

developed to support innovation

As a result of an underdeveloped capital

market, Slovak firms face insufficient

access to finance.

The overall level of non-

financial corporation funding represents

98.7% of GDP, compared to the EU average of

230.3% (see Annex 5). Furthermore, Slovak

firms rely disproportionately more on funding

from banks as opposed to capital markets. For

start-ups, market financing is especially

important to spur innovation. The access of

firms to household savings is limited due to

the low retail participation in capital markets,

with a relatively large share of household

assets stored in cash, deposits and housing,

contributing to underused market financing. In

particular, households hold 52.1% of their

assets in cash and deposits, compared to the

EU average of 32.2%. There is scope for

increasing the level of direct and indirect retail

investment by improving financial literacy.

Furthermore, venture capital and private

equity are limited, particularly affecting SMEs

and innovative start-ups. The value of annual

venture capital investment stood at 0.01% of

GDP in 2023, compared to the EU average of

0.05% (see Annex 5). Government initiatives

that support start-up funding or attract

domestic institutional investors in private

equity and venture capital could support

capital market development and thus an

improvement in access to finance.

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

Slovakia’s complex regulatory

environment and fragmented local

governance hinder the business

environment

Slovakia’s business environment is one of

the least favourable in the EU, hindering

the country’s competitiveness.

As a result

of long and complex administrative

procedures, an unpredictable regulatory

environment, fast-changing legislation and

insufficient investment planning, among other

things, Slovakia has the worst conditions for

doing business in the EU (see Annex 4).

Simplification of administrative and

regulatory procedures and increased

transparency,

predictability

and

evidence-based policymaking are key to

improving the business environment.

Slovak legislation tends to change rapidly and

fast-track legislative procedures have become

increasingly common when adopting new laws

or amendments. For instance, in 2017-2021,

25 business-related laws were changed, on

average, 62 times per calendar year (see

Annex 4). At the same time, the number of

legislative proposals between October 2023

and February 2025 bypassing standard impact

assessments and stakeholder consultations

reached 37% of adopted laws (see Annex 4).

Under Slovakia’s better regulation framework,

there is a formal obligation to carry out impact

assessments in various policy areas, among

other things. However, the framework lacks a

clear and binding nature, has limited quality

and is not implemented effectively. The

regulatory governance procedures are not

obligatory for the parliament, which affects

the quality of legislation, as in 2023, 60% of

legislative initiatives were tabled by members

of the parliament (see Annex 6). Despite the

introduction of several measures, such as ex-

post evaluations, prevention of gold-plating or

anti-bureaucratic packages

–

also contained in

the RRP

–

to simplify the regulatory

environment and increase its predictability, the

overall improvements have been marginal,

with business and labour regulations in

Slovakia significantly deteriorating in 2024

compared to the previous year (see Annex 4).

Fragmented public administration, limited

transparency in public procurement

processes and a lack of sound investment

planning pose serious challenges to

Slovakia’s

competitiveness.

Local

administration is very fragmented. There is a

large variation in the size of municipalities,

hampering

effective

governance

and

cooperation, strategic planning and the correct

implementation of fiscal policies (see

Annex 6). Moreover, in the past few years,

municipalities have received additional

responsibilities that were not matched with

adequate funding. A reform of the local

governance structure, better streamlining

powers and financing, could boost the

effectiveness of investments and the

absorption of funds. While a recent

amendment to the Public Procurement Act

aimed to simplify public procurement

procedures for municipalities and businesses,

results are yet to be confirmed (see Annex 4).

Moreover, the changes pose transparency and

competition risks, especially for below-

threshold procurement, making it easier for

favouritism to occur. Furthermore, investment

management in Slovakia is currently planned

for seven-year periods (linked to the timespan

of EU funds) and lacks a long-term and

strategic vision, giving little investment

certainty to businesses as well as regional and

local stakeholders. These challenges are

especially problematic for small municipalities,

which need additional training and capacity in

procuring, planning projects and investments,

and applying for EU funds. As the government

is currently working on a national investment

strategy until 2050, it is important that a

cross-party agreement on the strategy will be

reached, and that the strategy is adopted in

good time.

Rule of law concerns have

increased, and civil service

reforms threaten stability and

transparency

Recent changes to the civil service may

negatively affect the quality of public

administration.

The Civil Service Council, an

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

independent

body

overseeing

the

implementation of the Civil Service Act and

handling complaints from civil servants, was

dissolved in 2024. Amendments to the Civil

Service Act in 2021 concerning dismissal

procedures for civil servants have raised

concerns regarding the stability and

transparency of the system. At the same time,

as a result of insufficient training and skills

development of civil servants, the quality and

productivity of the service remain rather low,

hampering the regulatory environment (see

Annex 6).

There are concerns over the judicial

system and, following a series of recent

reforms, the institutional and analytical

capacity and ability of the police force

and prosecutors to investigate and

prosecute corruption was seriously

disrupted in the course of 2024.

Concerns

over the judicial system include missing

safeguards regarding the dismissal procedure

of members of the Judicial Council. Moreover,

several consecutive amendments to the

criminal code, reducing the sentences and

limitation periods for corruption criminal

offences, and the dismantling of the Special

Prosecution Office and the police force

specialised in tackling corruption (National

Crime Agency) raised serious concerns about

the robustness of Slovakia’s

legislative

framework. Subsequent reorganisations of the

prosecution and police services led to the

decentralisation

investigations

and

impacted the adequate follow-up of ongoing

cases, as well as the degree of specialisation

and capacity that had been built over previous

years also as part of RRP investments (e.g.

ensuring the recruitment and training of police

officers in the area of anti-corruption

–

Annex

6). These developments can further undermine

Slovakia’s competitiveness as they threaten to

hamper the business and regulatory

environment. As the negative impact on legal

certainty and investor confidence may be

long-lasting, it will be important to restore

effective anti-corruption measures, including

deterrence, investigation, and prosecution of

high-level corruption.

Despite recent substantial changes made,

the

Slovak

anti-money

laundering

framework and the framework for

combatting the financing of terrorism

call for additional improvements.

Slovakia

has taken important steps to address

weaknesses in its framework for Anti-Money

Laundering and Combatting the Financing of

Terrorism (AML/CFT), notably by recently

amending their main AML Act and also by

regularly reporting to the Commission on the

actions

taken

following

2022

implementation report by the Council of

Europe. However, concerns remain regarding

the supervision of Non-profit organizations

(NPOs) and the definition and monitoring of

Virtual Assets Providers (VASPs) activities as

recently outlined by Moneyval, as well as

beneficial ownership information for trusts

and similar legal arrangement, and fit and

proper’s requirements, in particular.

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

DECARBONISATION, ENERGY AFFORDABILITY AND

SUSTAINABILITY

Supporting the roll-out of

technologies for the green

transition could boost economic

resilience

Slovakia’s large and labour-intensive

industrial sector faces several challenges

to modernise, meet climate objectives,

and remain competitive.

The industrial

sector accounts for approximately 30% of

GDP, significantly above the EU average.

Slovakia is a global leader in per-capita car

production. Its automotive industry is primarily

combustion-based, but there are emerging

signs of a shift towards electric vehicle

production. At the same time, Slovakia also

has the EU’s highest share of emissions from

manufacturing (35%

–

see Annex 7). In recent

years, the industrial sector has faced

increasing pressure to transition away from

traditional production to new business

opportunities, including more automated

processes and the production of green

technologies. Despite this, the manufacturing

capacity across net-zero technologies remains

limited, accounting for less than 1% of the

EU’s capacity for solar photovoltaic

modules

and around 2% for battery and storage

technologies (see Annex 7). Manufacturing is

still heavily reliant on imports of critical raw

materials, given the country’s rather low

endowment of subsoil assets (

), making

Slovakia particularly vulnerable to supply chain

disruptions. By gradually shifting towards a

more diversified and innovation-driven

economy, Slovakia could boost long-term

economic sustainability and its resilience to

external shocks.

(

) https://www.minzp.sk/files/iep/making-slovak-republic-

more-resource-efficient-economy_final.pdf.

Slovakia has recently taken measures to

support the roll-out of projects in

strategic

sectors,

including

those

promoting the growth of the green

economy.

In March 2024, Slovakia adopted

its framework to support strategic sectors (

As of March 2025, businesses in targeted

areas are able to benefit from increased

financial incentives, as the government

increased the intensity of investment support

for the digital, green, biotechnology and

pharmaceutical sectors by 10% (

). Although

an important step, the support framework

could be complemented by a transparent

mechanism to regularly review priority actions,

targeting

particularly

high-value

manufacturing and investing in emerging

industries. To boost the effectiveness of

investments, eligible actions could include

infrastructure

(digital

and

electricity

connection for businesses) and innovation

investments, but also reskilling and advisory

services to further integrate producers into the

EU-wide supply chains. There is also further

scope for introducing an overarching net-zero

policy framework to support cleantech

manufacturing.

To address persistently high non-

household energy costs hindering the

business environment, there is scope to

scale up renewable energy infrastructure

investments and reform taxes and tariff

structures.

Wholesale electricity prices were

the ninth highest in the EU in 2024, averaging

93 EUR/MWh (see Annex 8). Regional

wholesale prices also remained above the

(

) Act No. 142/2024 Coll. The act enables the designation

of certain investments as strategic. Such investments

are to benefit from faster permitting procedures.

(

) Act No. 34/2025 Coll. The act increases the intensity of

investment support by 10 percentage points.

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

European Power Benchmark in 2024 (

). Also,

non-household natural gas prices were the

fourth highest in the EU in the first half of

2024 (

). The scope for reforming electricity

taxation is underscored by the significant

share of taxes and levies in the electricity price

for energy-intensive industries, amounting to

11%

(see

Annex

7).

Furthermore,

electrification is disincentivised by Slovakia

having one of the EU’s widest gaps between

electricity and gas prices, with electricity

costing 2.8 times more for energy-intensive

industries, and 3.1 times for households after

taxes (see Annex 7). The effective carbon rate

is also lower than the EU average (see

Annex 2 and 8), driven by lower fuel excise

duties. The existing exemption from excise

duty on coal and natural gas also does not

provide the right incentive for the use of

cleaner sources and perpetuate the use of

fossil fuels. Moreover, with regulated

electricity and gas prices for all households,

consumer engagement and energy efficiency

investment incentives remain subdued.

(e.g. acceleration zones). More ambition is

needed also in incentivising grid investments

through regulatory policies of grid operators.

Furthermore, Slovakia needs to take action to

boost the support of local communities for

renewables and ensure their right to

participate

permitting

processes.

Furthermore, fossil fuel consumption in

Slovakia would benefit from greater

diversification, as Russian crude oil, for

example, still makes up more than 80% of all

crude oil consumed in 2024 and around 70%

of natural gas was of Russian origin in the

same year (see Annex 8).

Decarbonising the heating sector in

Slovakia is crucial for meeting the

country’s climate goals and reducing

reliance on fossil fuels, particularly

natural gas.

Despite the significantly

decarbonised electricity mix due to nuclear

sources, the heating system is still heavily

reliant on fossil fuel, in particular imported

natural gas (see Annex 8). The potential of

renewable energy sources (e.g. geothermal),

clean technologies (e.g. heat pumps) and

energy efficiency savings in Slovakia’s large

district heating networks is underutilised, even

though the Modernisation Fund already

provides significant financial support to this

sector. At the same time, for components used

in heat pumps and geothermal energy

applications, Slovakia stands out as a Member

State with competitive production facilities (

Government policies, including subsidies and

incentives, are supporting households and

businesses in adopting greener heating

technologies. However, challenges such as

high upfront costs and the need to modernise

heat distribution remain key hurdles to

achieving the full decarbonisation of the

heating sector. Slovakia could consider further

measures

support

high-efficiency

cogeneration and the modernisation of heat

distribution and to improve the integration of

renewables into the heating system.

The potential of renewable energy

sources is underused in Slovakia

In 2024, renewables contributed to 24%

of Slovakia’s electricity mix, well below

the EU average of 47%.

At the same time,

Slovakia’s

national renewables target for 2030

–

as set out in its draft updated national

energy and climate plan

–

is 23%, far below

the 35% set by the Energy Union governance

formula (

). While Slovakia has recently

adopted several reforms to support the

roll-out of investments in renewables and

accelerate permitting procedures, some of

these measures are yet to be implemented

(

) Study on energy prices and costs

–

evaluating impacts

on households and industry’s costs –

2024 edition.

Page 40 (Figure 7).

(

) Eurostat (online data codes:nrg_pc_2023).

(

) Commission Recommendation of 18.12.2023 on the

draft updated integrated national energy and climate

plan of Slovakia covering the period 2021-2030 and on

the consistency of Slovakia’s measures with the Union’s

climate-neutrality objective.

(

) European Commission: Directorate-General for Energy

and ECORYS, The net-zero manufacturing industry

landscape across Member States

–

Final report,

Publications Office of the European Union,

2025, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2833/2249632.

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

Clean transport infrastructure

development lags behind

Slovakia’s large automotive industry

faces challenges in promoting zero-

emission vehicles domestically.

Despite

being highly export-driven, the Slovak

automotive sector struggles with low

consumer interest in zero-emission vehicles

within the country. Zero-emission vehicles

make up only 2.9% of new car registrations

(see Graph 3.1 and Annex 7), placing Slovakia

among the last EU countries in terms of

deployment of zero-emission road transport.

Therefore, the low demand for these vehicles

may hinder the future competitiveness of

Slovakia’s automotive sector

on its domestic

market as the sector increasingly shifts

towards manufacturing only zero-emission

vehicles. While the uptake is slowly improving

thanks to recovery and resilience plan (RRP)

reforms, such as the adoption of the

Electromobility Action Plan, structural issues

such as low domestic interest remain,

particularly due to the slow implementation of

incentives from the action plan and low

affordability of zero-emission vehicles for

individuals and companies. Similarly, the

deployment of recharging and hydrogen-

refuelling infrastructure is also lagging, as the

rate of deployment of both solutions is equally

one of the lowest in the EU. Although an

investment in recharging and hydrogen-

refuelling infrastructure is planned under the

RRP, this will be insufficient to fully inspire

significant further investments by the private

sector in such infrastructure and to meet

requirements set by EU legislation. Slovakia

could consider further financial support for the

uptake of zero-emission infrastructure and

incentives for private companies to invest in

the expansion of public infrastructure.

Graph 3.1:

Zero-emission passenger cars in

2023 (% of new registered vehicles)

2,9

SE DK FI NK LU MT AT BE IE DE PT FR EU RO SI LV LT EE ES CY HU EL BG IT PL CZ SK HR

Source:

Eurostat

Railway transport infrastructure lacks

efficient governance and is slow in

modernisation.

This is despite some progress

in recent years in increasing the amounts

allocated for financing the operation of

infrastructure and for investment projects.

State-owned

railway

infrastructure

modernising at a slow pace and remains

unattractive both for passenger and

commercial use. Slovakia currently lacks a

centralised approach to strategically ensure

financing of renovations and upgrades of

national transport infrastructure (see Annex 7).

A centralised national fund could help

accelerate medium- to long-term planning and

financing of key transport investments. This

could be accompanied by a reform of national

railway infrastructure management, to

accelerate and streamline investments in

modernising physical and digital rail

infrastructure.

Nature-based solutions are key to

improving

Slovakia’s water

resilience

The quality of Slovak surface water

bodies is deteriorating as a result of

inadequate water management measures.

The assessment of Slovakia’s third river basin

management plans showed that the number

of surface water bodies classified as having

good (or better) ecological status has

decreased significantly from 56% in 2015 to

41% in 2021 (see Annex 9). This pressure has

been caused by an increased number of

extreme weather events, excessive amounts of

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

pollutants and frequent changes to the shape

and flow of water bodies. The increasing

number of areas that are affected by drought

as well as floods (e.g. in September 2024) also

demonstrates the urgency for increasing water

resilience. Yet, in 2023, Slovakia’s draft

updated national energy and climate plan did

not take account of relevant and acute climate

vulnerabilities and risks, which risks

jeopardising the achievement of energy and

climate mitigation objectives. Improving water

bodies’ status and increasing resilience to

floods and droughts require improving

sustainable

water

management

and

prioritising nature-based solutions and river

restorations over constructing new water

dams and other ‘grey infrastructure’. Even

though the Slovak RRP includes some

measures on revitalisation of watercourses,

these are not sufficient to address the

challenges.

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

SKILLS, QUALITY JOBS AND SOCIAL FAIRNESS

funds. These measures fail to sufficiently

address the needs of the under-represented

and most vulnerable groups in the country,

such as Roma, young people, women and long-

term unemployed people (see Annex 10).

Staff and skills shortages put

brakes on growth

Addressing staff and skills shortages

through targeted upskilling and reskilling

would boost productivity and help deliver

on the green and digital transitions.

Shortages of workers in Slovakia are

particularly severe in construction, industry

and services, with education and healthcare

services being particularly understaffed. At the

same time, there is a significant shortage of

workers with specific skills, especially green

and digital. Slovakia lacks ICT specialists, and

the share of people with at least basic digital

skills remains low: it decreased to 51.3% in

2023 (see Annex 13), which is still below the

EU average of 55.6%. Efforts are particularly

needed to increase the currently low share of

students enrolled in science, technology,

engineering

and

mathematics

(STEM)

programmes as this share was at 21.8% in

2022 (against an EU average of 27.1%).

Targeted reskilling and upskilling measures are

thus crucial for adapting to the changing job

market demands and promoting the

diversification of the Slovak economy.

Targeted and effective active labour

market policies (ALMPs), combined with

more flexible working arrangements

could encourage more people to work or

look for a job and reduce shortages of

workers.

While the overall unemployment

rate has been declining in recent years, long-

term and youth unemployment remain high. At

the same time, the unemployment rate among

people from disadvantaged groups, such as

the marginalised Roma communities, rose to

53.4%, against an EU average of 19%, in

2022 (see Annex 10). Slovakia has very low

investments in ALMPs, with a substantial part

of investments financed from cohesion policy

Insufficient childcare makes it

more difficult for people to work

or look for a job

The lack of childcare for children under

the age of 3 and the limited availability

of flexible work arrangements make it

more difficult for women and parents to

work or look for a job.

In 2024, the

enrolment rate of children under 3 in early

childhood education and care increased to

5.1% but remains far below the EU average of

39.2% (

). The situation is even more serious

for children from marginalised Roma

communities. The limited participation of

children under 3 in formal childcare is

attributed to the generous parental leave

periods, which discourage women from

reintegrate into the job market, and the

insufficient availability of affordable high-

quality childcare facilities (see Annex 10). As a

result, the rate of women who are working or

looking for a job is relatively low in Slovakia.

More efforts to increase the availability of

childcare facilities and promote the enrolment

of children under 3 would not only contribute

to increasing the rate of women who are

working or looking for a job, but also to

facilitating long-term skills development. At

the same time, introducing more flexible work

arrangements would incentivise parents to

work more. For instance, supporting part-time

employment and revising the tax system, in

particular by reducing the cost of part-time

(

) Eurostat.

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

workers for employers, could help get parents

of young children into work. To further

increase the supply of workers, implementing

measures in the RRP to attract, for example,

doctors and other healthcare workers will be

important. This could be done, for instance, by

simplifying procedures for the recognition of

degrees and work experience and by

facilitating integration. However, further

efforts are needed to train and attract workers

in sectors where it is most difficult to find

qualified applicants.

significant decline in literacy and numeracy

performance between 2011/2012 and

2022/2023, with a growing share of low-

performing adults and a shrinking share of

high performers.

Social inclusion could be

strengthened, and the availability

and accessibility of housing

increased

The risks of poverty and social exclusion

have been increasing already since 2020

(see Annex 11).

More action is needed to

reach the national 2030 poverty reduction

target. The rate of children who are at risk of

poverty or social exclusion dropped below the

EU average but remains relatively high (22.6%

vs EU 24.2% in 2024

–

see Annex 11).

Challenges surrounding poverty are marked by

regional disparities, with the eastern part of

the country experiencing the most significant

challenges. With the support from the RRP and

the European Social Fund Plus, several policy

measures are being implemented to reduce

the segregation of Roma in education, for

example by introducing a legal definition of

segregation in education. Nonetheless,

challenges remain, especially at local level.

The supply of social housing is low.

Only

1.6% of the housing stock is dedicated to

social rental housing. As the most vulnerable

people struggle to access housing, increasing

public support for the construction of social

housing would be important to address this

(see Annex 11). The expansion of the social

housing stock in Slovakia could benefit more

from the experience of non-governmental

organisation and social enterprises to make

housing projects more inclusive, for example

by easing the eligibility requirements for the

most vulnerable people and by complementing

the housing with the necessary supporting

services (psychological, social, financial care).

Slovakia could scale up and mainstream

OECD Publishing,

Paris,

https://doi.org/10.1787/b263dc5d-en.

Challenges in the education

system weaken basic skills

performance

A shortage of teachers, insufficient in-

service training and support to teachers,

long-term underfunding of the education

system, and the low attractiveness of the

teaching profession worsen pupils’

performance in basic skills.

Relatively low

renumeration, insufficient access to high-

quality continuing professional development

and a high administrative burden make the

teaching profession unattractive, with negative

consequences for the quality of education.

Many

children

from

disadvantaged

backgrounds, including from the marginalised

Roma communities, face significant socio-

economic

challenges

hindering

their

educational outcomes (see Annex 12). In the

2022 OECD PISA survey, 33.2% of Slovak

students underperformed in mathematics,

35.4% in reading and 30.6% in science (EU

averages: 29.5%, 26.2% and 24.2%,

respectively),

among

the

highest

underachievement

rates

the

EU.

Nevertheless, the ongoing curricular reform,

supported by the RRP, should ensure improving

basic skills, particularly for maths and reading.

The success of the curricular reform will also

depend on how teachers are prepared and

supported in implementing it. Low basic skills

are also a concern among adults, as results of

the

Survey of Adult Skills

(

) show a

(

) OECD (2024),

Do adults have the skills they need to

thrive in a changing world? Survey of Adult Skills 2023,

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

existing pilot projects funded by the European

Social Fund Plus that combine the easing of

eligibility requirements and the provision of

social services to deprived tenants. At the

same time, following a period of slower

mortgage growth, the growth rate of house

prices has gradually picked up, hampering

housing affordability. The decline in residential

construction limits the supply of housing,

putting upward pressure on house prices.

functions.

Simultaneously,

improving

preventive care services is important to lower

mortality from preventable causes and to

reduce healthcare costs.

The quality and sustainability of

the healthcare system can be

improved

The lack of healthcare professionals and

the ageing workforce pose serious

challenges to the sustainability of

Slovakia’s healthcare system.

Slovakia has

a lower density of healthcare workers than the

EU average, with 3.7 doctors and 5.7 nurses

per 1 000 people in 2022, compared to the EU

averages of 4.2 and 7.6, respectively (see

Annex 14). Additionally, 23.7% of nurses are

nearing retirement, which will exacerbate the

shortage. The efforts to increase enrolment in

healthcare studies, improve working conditions

and modernise infrastructure appear to be

very limited compared to the system’s needs.

Persisting inefficiencies in the hospital

sector and a lack of disease prevention

pose an additional risk to the

sustainability of the healthcare system.

By the end of 2023, Slovakia’s 13 largest

state hospitals were facing significant debt,

with an average delay in bill payments of 400

days. Financial constraints and late payments

hinder efforts to boost efficiency gains in

healthcare. Moreover, in 2022, only 2.0% of

Slovakia’s total health expenditure was

allocated to prevention, far below the EU

average of 5.5%. Slovakia also reports some

of the highest rates of treatable mortality in

the EU, particularly from cardiovascular

diseases and cancer. There is significant

potential to improve the cost-effectiveness of

the healthcare system by optimising resource

allocation, further digitalising the health

system, and further centralising administrative

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

KEY FINDINGS

To boost competitiveness, sustainability and

social fairness, Slovakia would benefit from:

•

accelerating the implementation

of the recovery and resilience

plan,

including the REPowerEU

chapter;

swiftly

implementing

cohesion policy,

taking advantage of

the opportunities under the mid-term

review and making optimal use of EU

instruments, including

InvestEU

and

STEP,

to improve competitiveness;

making the tax system fairer and

more efficient

by: (i) integrating

value-based aspects, such as land

value, into the calculation of property

taxation;

(ii)

strengthening

environmental taxes; and (iii) reducing

the high taxes on wages, in particular

for people on lower incomes;

supporting the housing supply and

expanding the rental market

streamlining the process of obtaining

building

permits

and

reducing

administrative burdens, while taking

into consideration vulnerable groups in

state-supported housing programmes;

ensuring that government policies

to reduce the deficit and debt

supports

growth

by:

(i) complementing the recent tax

increases with measures that preserve

investment;

(ii)

increasing

the

efficiency of public spending, in

particular in healthcare; (iii) avoiding

excessive tax burdens on businesses;

and (iv) maintaining a growth-friendly

budget composition;

boosting

innovation

and

digitalisation

by: (i) increasing public

and

private

R&D

investment;

(ii) encouraging

business-science

linkages; (iii) improving financial

support and exploiting the potential of

R&D tax incentives for SMEs;

(iv) strengthening digital infrastructure,

including by rolling out very high-

capacity

digital

networks;

and

(v) supporting SME adoption of

advanced digital technologies;

•

improving

the

business

environment

by: (i) simplifying

administrative

and

regulatory

procedures; (ii) ensuring legislative

stability, transparency and use of

evidence through a more effective

better

regulation

framework;

(iii) boosting

transparency

and

competition in public procurement; and

(iv) strengthening investment planning;

strengthening governance and

anti-corruption

measures

reforming the local governance

structure, ensuring civil service

stability,

and

restoring

the

independence and capacity of law

enforcement to fight corruption;

improving access to finance

supporting the development of capital

markets, increasing retail investment

and expanding venture capital and

private equity to support SMEs and

start-ups;

making further progress to

decarbonise,

innovate

and

diversify the economy

by reforming

electricity and carbon taxation to

incentivise

electrification,

strengthening the legislative and

investment framework for production

of clean and renewable technologies,

and supporting decarbonisation of the

heating

and

transport

sectors,

•

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

including for zero-emission vehicle

infrastructure;

•

increasing climate and water

resilience

by improving sustainable

water management and prioritising

nature-based solutions and river

restorations;

addressing labour and skills

shortages

by: (i) expanding green and

digital skills training; (ii) strengthening

active labour market policies for long-

term unemployed people, Roma,

women and parents with young

children; (iii) introducing more flexible

work arrangements; (iv) promoting

training and support for recruiting and

retaining healthcare professionals and

teachers; (v) tackling the low uptake of

early childhood education and care for

children under the age of 3;

(vi) increasing enrolment in science,

technology,

engineering,

and

mathematics

(STEM)

education;

(vii) improving teacher support and

training to strengthen basic skills for

pupils; and (viii) expanding preventive

healthcare measures.

•

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

ANNEXES

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

LIST OF ANNEXES

Fiscal

A1.

A2.

Fiscal surveillance and debt sustainability

Taxation

Productivity

A3.

A4.

A5.

A6.

Innovation to business

Making business easier

Capital markets, financial stability and access to finance

Effective institutional framework

Sustainability

A7.

A8.

A9.

Clean industry and climate mitigation

Affordable energy transition

Climate adaptation, preparedness and environment

Fairness

A10. Labour market

A9.

Social policies

A12. Education and skills

A13. Social Scoreboard

A14. Health and health systems

Horizontal

A15. Sustainable development goals

A16. CSR progress and EU funds implementation

A17. Competitive regions

101

109

LIST OF TABLES

A1.1.

A1.2.

A1.3.

A1.4.

A1.5.

A1.6.

A1.7.

A1.8.

A1.9.

General government balance and debt

Net expenditure growth

Net expenditure (outturn and forecast), annual and cumulated deviations vis-à-vis the recommendation

Defence expenditure

Macroeconomic developments and forecasts

General government budgetary position

Debt developments

RRF

–

Grants

Projected change in age-related expenditure in 2024-2040 and 2024-2070

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

A1.10.

A2.1.

A3.1.

A4.1.

A5.1.

A6.1.

A6.2.

A7.1.

A8.1.

A9.1.

A13.1.

A14.1.

A16.1.

A16.2.

A17.1.

Fiscal Governance Database Indicators

Taxation indicators

Key innovation indicators

Making Business Easier: indicators.

Financial indicators

Slovakia. Selected indicators on administrative burden reduction and simplification

Digital Decade targets monitored through the Digital Economy and Society Index

Key clean industry and climate mitigation indicators: Slovakia

Key Energy Indicators

Key indicators tracking progress on climate adaptation, resilience and environment

Social Scoreboard for Slovakia

Key health indicators

Selected EU funds with adopted allocations - summary data (million EUR)

Summary table on 2019-2024 CSRs

Selection of indicators at regional level in Slovakia

104

105

110

LIST OF GRAPHS

A2.1.

A2.2.

A3.1.

A3.2.

A4.1.

A5.1.

A5.2.

A5.3.

A5.4.

A5.5.

A6.1.

A6.2.

A7.1.

A7.2.

A7.3.

A8.1.

A8.2.

A8.3.

A9.1.

A9.2.

A10.1.

A10.2.

A10.3.

A9.1.

A12.1.

A12.2.

A14.1.

A14.2.

A15.1.

A16.1.

A16.2.

A17.1.

A17.2.

A17.3.

Tax revenue shares in 2024

Tax wedge for single and second earners, % of total labour costs, 2024

Slovakia’s share of scientific publications among the top 10%

most cited as a percentage of its total scientific publications

Business expenditure on R&D as a percentage of GDP in the Visegrad countries

Making Business Easier: selected indicators.

Net savings-investment balance

International investment position

Capital markets and financial intermediaries in Slovakia

Composition of NFC funding as % of GDP

Composition of household financial assets per capita and as % of GDP

Trust in justice, regional / local authorities and in government

Indicators of Regulatory Policy and Governance (iREG)

GHG emission intensity of manu-facturing and energy-intensive sectors, 2022

Greenhouse gas emissions in the effort sharing sectors, 2005 and 2023

Municipal waste treatment

Retail energy price components for household and non-household consumers, 2024

Monthly average day-ahead wholesale electricity prices and European benchmark natural gas prices (Dutch TTF)

Slovakia's installed renewable capacity (left) and electricity generation mix (right)

Direct dependency(1) on ecosystem services(2) of the gross value added generated by economic sector in 2022

Investment needs and gaps in EUR million, in 2022 constant prices

Key rates: activity, unemployment, long-term unemployment, youth unemployment, NEETs

Youth: in education and training, employment rate, unemployment rate, unemployment-to-population ratio, NEET

Employment by type (permanent, temporary, self-employed), year-on-year changes

At-risk-of-poverty or social exclusion rate and its components (AROP, AROPE, SMSD, LWI)

Early school leavers, not in education, employment or training (NEET) and tertiary attainment

Change in the number of students enrolled in tertiary education and in STEM fields (ISCED 5-8) in Slovakia, 2017-2023

Life expectancy at birth, years

Treatable mortality

Progress towards the SDGs in Slovakia

Distribution of RRF funding in Slovakia by policy field

Distribution of cohesion policy funding across policy objectives in Slovakia

GDP per head in purchasing power standard (PPS)

Labour productivity per hour

Access to healthcare and primary education in rural areas, 2023

102

109

111

LIST OF MAPS

A17.1.

Regional Competitiveness Index 2.0, 2022 edition

110

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

FISCAL

ANNEX 1: FISCAL SURVEILLANCE AND DEBT SUSTAINABILITY

This Annex contains a series of tables relevant for the assessment of the fiscal situation in Slovakia,

including how Slovakia is responding to Council recommendations issued under the reformed Economic

Governance Framework.

The reformed framework, which entered into force on 30 April 2024(

), aims to strengthen debt

sustainability and promote sustainable and inclusive growth through growth-enhancing reforms and

priority investments. The medium-term fiscal-structural plans (hereinafter, MTPs or plans) constitute the

cornerstone of the framework, setting the budgetary commitment of Member States over the medium

term. The latter is defined in terms of net expenditure growth, which is the single operational indicator for

fiscal surveillance.

Slovakia submitted its plan on 15 October 2024. The plan covers the period until 2028, presenting a fiscal

adjustment over four years. On 21 January 2025, the Council adopted the Recommendation endorsing

Slovakia’s

(

). On 21 January 2025 the Council also adopted a Recommendation under Article 126(7)

TFEU to correct the excessive deficit in Slovakia(

). The corrective net expenditure path recommended by

the Council under the excessive deficit procedure is consistent with the path set out in the plan.

The assessment of the implementation of the Council Recommendation to correct the excessive deficit

and

endorsing the Slovakia’s plan

is carried out on the basis of outturn data from Eurostat and the

Commission Spring 2025 Forecast and taking into account the Annual Progress Report (APR), that Slovakia

submitted on 30 April 2025. Furthermore, given Slovakia’s request to activate the National

Escape Clause

(

) in accordance with the Commission Communication of 19 March 2025(

), the assessment also

considers, as appropriate, the projected increase in defence expenditure based on the Commission Spring

2025 Forecast.

The Annex is organised as follows. First, developments in

government deficit and debt

are presented

based on the figures reported in Table A1.1. Then, the assessment of the

implementation of the

Council Recommendation to correct the excessive deficit and of the Council Recommendation

endorsing the plan

follows, based on the relevant figures presented in Tables A1.2 to A1.8, including

data on defence expenditure.

The Annex also provides information on the

cost of ageing

and the

national fiscal framework.

Fiscal

sustainability risks are discussed in the Debt Sustainability Monitor 2024.(

)

(

) Regulation (EU) 2024/1263 of the European Parliament and of the Council (EU) on the effective coordination of economic policies

and on multilateral budgetary surveillance, together with the amended Regulation (EC) No 1467/97 on the implementation of the

excessive deficit procedure, and the amended Council Directive 2011/85/EU on the budgetary frameworks of Member States are the

core elements of the reformed EU economic governance framework.

(

) OJ C, C/2025/645, 10.2.2025, ELI:

http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2025/645/oj.

(

) Council Recommendation with a view to bringing an end to the situation of an excessive deficit in Slovakia, C/2025/5039.

(

) On 30 April 2025, Slovakia requested to the Commission and to the Council the activation of the National Escape Clause. On this

basis, the Commission adopted a Recommendation for a Council Recommendation allowing Slovakia to deviate from, and exceed,

the net expenditure path set by the Council, COM(2025)614.

(

) Communication from the Commission accommodating increased defence expenditure within the Stability and Growth Pact of 19

March 2025, C(2025) 2000 final.

(

)

European Commission (2025) ‘Debt Sustainability Monitor 2024,’

European Economy-Institutional Papers

306.

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

Developments in government deficit and debt

Slovakia’s government deficit amounted to 5.3% of GDP in 2024. Based on the Commission’s Spring 2025

Forecast, it is projected to decrease to 4.9% of GDP in 2025. The government debt-to-GDP ratio amounted

to 59.3% at the end of 2024 and, according to the Commission, it is projected to increase to 60.9% end-

2025. The high debt in 2025 results primarily from accumulated high primary deficits in the previous

years that more than compensate the favourable interest-growth-rate differential.

Table A1.1:

General government balance and debt

Variables

2024

% GDP

Outturn

-5.3

59.3

APR

-4.9

61.1

2025

COM

-4.9

60.9

APR

-4.5

63.3

2026

COM

-5.1

63.0

General government balance

General government gross debt

Source:

Commission Spring 2025 Forecast (COM), Annual Progress Report (APR)

Developments in net expenditure

The net expenditure(

) growth of Slovakia in 2025 is forecast by the Commission(

) to be below the

recommended maximum. Considering 2024 and 2025 together, the cumulative growth rate of net

expenditure is also projected to be below the recommended maximum cumulative growth rate. The Annual

Progress Report (APR) presents a lower net expenditure growth rate of 3.0% for 2024 than the

Commission's estimate, due to the APR assuming a lower level of EU-funded expenditures for 2023 than

in the validated outturn data from Eurostat. This assumption leads to higher net expenditure in the APR,

resulting in a lower growth rate for 2024 and subsequently lower cumulative growth rate estimates.

Table A1.2:

Net expenditure growth

Annual

REC

2024

2025

2026

Cumulative*

COM

REC

Growth rates

5.4%

n.a.

3.8%

10.3%

3.9%

11.2%

APR

n.a.

6.6%

n.a.

COM

n.a.

9.3%

13.6%

APR

3.0%

3.6%

2.3%

n.a.

3.8%

0.9%

(*) The cumulative growth rates are calculated by reference to the base year of 2023.

Source:

Council Recommendation to correct the excessive deficit in Slovakia. Annual Progress Report (APR), and Commission's

calculation based on Commission Spring 2025 Forecast (COM).

General government defence expenditure in Slovakia amounted to 1.4% of GDP in 2021, 1.0% of GDP in

2022 and 1.2% of GDP in 2023(

). According to the Commission 2025 Spring Forecast, expenditure on

defence is projected at 1.3% of GDP in 2024 and 2.3% of GDP in 2025.

(

) Net expenditure is defined in Article 2(2) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1263 as government expenditure net of (i) interest expenditure,

(ii) discretionary revenue measures, (iii) expenditure on programmes of the Union fully matched by revenue from Union funds, (iv)

national expenditure on co-financing of programmes funded by the Union, (v) cyclical elements of unemployment benefit

expenditure, and (vi) one-off and other temporary measures.

(

) Commission Spring 2025 Forecast,

European Economy-Institutional paper 318,

May 2025.

(

)

Eurostat, government expenditure by classification of functions of government (COFOG).

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

Table A1.3:

Net expenditure (outturn and forecast), annual and cumulated deviations vis-à-vis the

recommendation

Variables

Total expenditure

Interest expenditure

Cyclical unemployment expenditure

Expenditure funded by transfers from the EU

National co-financing of EU programmes

One-off expenditure (levels, excl. EU funded)

Net nationally financed primary expenditure (before

7=1-2-3-4-5-6

discretionary revenue measures, DRM)

Change in net nationally financed primary expenditure (before DRM)

DRM (excl. one-off revenue, incremental impact)

Change in net nationally financed primary expenditure

10=8-9

(after DRM)

Outturn / forecast net expenditure growth

Recommended net expenditure growth*

13=(11-12) x 7

Annual deviation

14 (cumulated from 13)

Cumulated deviation

15=13/17

Annual balance

16=14/17

Cumulated balance

p.m. Nominal GDP

bn NAC

% change

bn NAC

% GDP

bn NAC

2023

Outturn

59.4

1.4

0.0

4.2

0.6

0.0

53.2

2024

Outturn

61.7

1.8

0.0

2.0

0.5

0.0

57.4

4.3

1.4

2.8

5.36%

6.2%

-0.4

-0.3

131.0

2025

COM

67.0

2.2

0.0

3.2

0.4

0.0

61.3

3.9

1.7

2.2

3.8%

0.0

-0.5

0.0

-0.3

138.1

2026

COM

71.1

2.4

0.0

4.1

0.4

0.0

64.2

2.9

0.5

2.4

3.9%

0.9%

1.9

1.4

1.3

1.0

144.7

123.8

* The growth rate for 2024 is not a recommendation but serves to anchor the base, as the latest year with outturn data when

setting the net expenditure path is year 2023.

Source:

Commission Spring 2025 Forecast and Commission's calculation

Table A1.4:

Defence expenditure

Total defence expenditure

of which: gross fixed capital formation

Flexibility from increases in defence expenditure

Cumulated balance after flexibility

% GDP

2021

1.4

0.2

2022

1.0

-0.1

2023

1.2

-1.0

2024

1.3

0.2

2025

2.3

1.2

0.9

-1.2

2026

2.0

0.9

0.6

0.4

Source:

Eurostat (COFOG), Commission Spring 2025 Forecast and Commission's calculation

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

Table A1.5:

Macroeconomic developments and forecasts

Variables

1=7+8+9

2024

Outturn

APR

1.9

1.6

1.3

8.9

2.7

4.4

3.1

0.6

-1.3

-0.5

0.3

5.3

1.7

3.9

3.1

5.3

n.a.

2025

COM

1.5

0.9

3.6

1.9

2.1

1.4

0.2

-0.2

-0.8

-0.1

5.3

1.6

4.0

3.9

4.9

-1.9

APR

1.9

1.8

1.2

-0.3

3.9

3.7

1.2

0.6

0.3

-0.8

0.1

5.2

1.8

3.7

3.4

5.3

n.a.

2026

COM

1.4

1.6

0.8

3.8

1.8

2.4

1.9

0.0

-0.5

-1.4

-0.1

5.3

1.5

2.9

3.3

4.4

-2.3

Real GDP

% change

2.1

Private consumption

% change

2.9

Government consumption expenditure

% change

3.7

Gross fixed capital formation

% change

1.8

Exports of goods and services

% change

0.3

Imports of goods and services

% change

2.3

Contributions to real GDP growth

- Final domestic demand

pps

2.9

- Change in inventories

pps

1.0

- Net exports

pps

-1.8

Output gap

% pot GDP

-0.3

Employment

% change

-0.2

Unemployment rate

5.3

Labour productivity

% change

2.2

HICP

% change

3.2

GDP deflator

% change

3.6

Compensation of employees per head

% change

7.3

Net lending/borrowing vis-à-vis the rest of the

% GDP

-2.1

world

Source:

Commission Spring 2025 Forecast (COM), Annual Progress Report (APR)

Table A1.6:

General government budgetary position

Variables (% GDP)

1=2+3+4+5

8=9+16

2024

Outturn

41.8

11.4

8.2

16.0

6.2

47.1

45.7

11.3

5.7

20.8

1.7

3.6

2.6

1.4

-5.3

-3.9

-5.2

0.0

-5.2

-3.8

APR

44.0

12.6

8.3

15.9

7.2

48.9

47.3

11.1

6.3

20.4

1.1

4.9

3.5

1.6

-4.9

-3.3

n.a.

0.0

-4.5

-2.9

2025

COM

43.6

12.5

8.3

15.8

7.0

48.5

46.9

11.3

5.6

20.2

1.0

5.1

3.7

1.6

-4.9

-3.3

-4.5

0.0

-4.5

-3.0

APR

42.7

12.5

8.2

16.1

5.9

47.3

45.7

11.0

6.0

20.0

0.7

3.6

4.4

1.6

-4.5

-2.9

n.a.

0.0

-4.2

-2.6

2026

COM

44.0

12.4

8.2

15.9

7.5

49.1

47.5

11.2

5.4

20.3

0.9

5.2

4.5

1.6

-5.1

-3.5

-4.6

0.0

-4.6

-3.0

Revenue

of which:

- Taxes on production and imports

- Current taxes on income, wealth, etc.

- Social contributions

- Other (residual)

Expenditure

of which:

- Primary expenditure

of which:

- Compensation of employees

- Intermediate consumption

- Social payments

- Subsidies

- Gross fixed capital formation

- Other

- Interest expenditure

General government balance

Primary balance

Cyclically adjusted balance

One-offs

Structural balance

Structural primary balance

18=1-8

19=1-9

22=20-21

23=22+16

Source:

Commission Spring 2025 Forecast (COM), Annual Progress Report (APR)

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

Table A1.7:

Debt developments

Variables

2=3+4+8

4≈5+6+7

Gross debt ratio* (% of GDP)

Change in the ratio (pps. of GDP)

Contributions**

Primary balance

'Snow-ball' effect

of which:

- Interest expenditure

- Real growth effect

- Inflation effect

'Stock-flow' adjustment

2024

Outturn

59.3

3.6

3.9

-1.6

1.4

-1.1

-2.0

1.4

2025

APR

61.1

1.8

3.3

-1.3

1.6

-1.1

-1.8

-0.3

COM

60.9

1.6

3.3

-1.5

1.6

-0.8

-2.2

-0.2

APR

63.3

2.2

2.9

-1.5

1.6

-1.1

-2.0

0.8

2026

COM

63.0

2.1

3.5

-1.2

1.6

-0.8

-2.0

-0.2

* End of period.

** The 'snow-ball' effect captures the impact of interest expenditure on accumulated general government debt, as well as the

impact of real GDP growth and inflation on the general government debt-to-GDP ratio (through the denominator). The stock-flow

adjustment includes differences in cash and accrual accounting (including leads and lags in Recovery and Resilience Facility grant

disbursements), accumulation of financial assets, and valuation and other residual effects.

Source:

Commission Spring 2025 Forecast and Commission's calculation (COM), Annual Progress Report (APR)

Table A1.8:

RRF

–

Grants

Revenue from RRF grants (% of GDP)

RRF grants as included in the revenue projections

Cash disbursements of RRF grants from EU

2020

n.a.

2021

0.0

0.8

2022

0.0

0.4

2023

0.1

1.2

2024

0.7

0.6

2025

2.2

1.0

2026

1.6

1.1

Expenditure financed by RRF grants (% of GDP)

6=4+5

Total current expenditure

Gross fixed capital formation

Capital transfers

Total capital expenditure

2020

0.0

2021

0.0

2022

0.0

2023

0.1

0.0

0.1

2024

0.2

0.1

0.4

2025

0.2

1.5

0.5

2.0

2026

0.2

1.0

0.5

1.4

Other costs financed by RRF grants (% of GDP)

Reduction in tax revenue

Other costs with impact on revenue

Financial transactions

2020

0.0

2021

0.0

2022

0.0

2023

0.0

2024

0.0

2025

0.0

2026

0.0

Source:

Annual Progress Report

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

Cost of ageing

Total age-related spending in Slovakia is projected to rise from about 20% of GDP in 2024 to

23% in 2040 and to 25% in 2070 (see Table

A1.9). The overall increase of around 5 pps of GDP by

2070 is due to a combination of rising pension, healthcare and long-term care expenditure.

Public pension spending is projected at 9.4% of GDP in 2024 and to rise by 2 pps of GDP by

2070, of which 1.4 pps would occur by 2040.

The peak increase is expected in the late 2050s, when

spending would be 2.8 pps of GDP higher than in 2024, followed by a decrease over the final decade of

the projections.

Public healthcare expenditure is projected at 6.1% of GDP in 2024 (slightly below the EU

average of 6.6%) and is expected to increase by 0.7 pps by 2040 and by a further 0.4 pps by

2070.

These increases, due to an ageing population, pose a risk to fiscal sustainability in the medium and

long term (

Public expenditure on long-term care is projected at 1.1% of GDP in 2024 (below the EU

average of 1.7%) and is expected to increase by 0.5 pps of GDP by 2040 and by a further 0.8

pps of GDP by 2070 (

Table A1.9:

Projected change in age-related expenditure in 2024-2040 and 2024-2070

age-related

expenditure

2024 (% GDP)

20.3

24.3

age-related

expenditure

2024 (% GDP)

20.3

24.3

change in 2024-2040 (pps GDP) due to:

pensions

1.4

0.5

healthcare

0.7

0.3

long-term care

0.5

0.4

education

0.1

-0.3

total

2.8

0.9

age-related

expenditure

2040 (%GDP)

23.1

25.2

age-related

expenditure

2070 (%GDP)

4.7

1.3

25.0

25.6

change in 2024-2070 (pps GDP) due to:

pensions

2.0

0.2

healthcare

1.2

0.6

long-term care

1.3

0.8

education

0.3

-0.4

total

Source:

2024 Ageing Report (EC/EPC).

National fiscal framework

The Slovak Council for Budget Responsibility (CBR) is a well-resourced independent fiscal

institution with a broad mandate and a relatively developed media presence.

The leadership has

staggered (but non-renewable) mandates of seven years and is subject to a three-year

“cooling off

period” before joining a government. Although its access to information has recently been strengthened, it

has no formal access-to-information agreement with the Ministry of Finance and no legal base for access

to data from entities outside the general government sector, such as state-owned enterprises. In addition,

the CBR has no recourse if an entity refuses to provide the requested data. Its policy dialogue with the

government is underdeveloped.

(

) Key performance characteristics, recent reforms and investments of the Slovak healthcare system are discussed in Annex 14

‘Health

and health systems’.

(

) The adequacy and quality of the Slovak long-term care system are covered in Annex 11

‘Social policies’.

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

Slovakia continues to reform the planning of public investment, including through the recovery

and resilience plan, while monitoring and ex-post assessments remain weak.

Project selection at

ministry level has improved through a new methodology for the preparation and evaluation of investment

projects, including the role of investment strategies (

) This methodology is due to be implemented

retroactively and gradually across the full investment portfolio by 2026 (

). Further reforms of project

governance are planned by the Investment Authority Slovakia, aimed to improve risk management and

project selection. In addition, all central government investment projects above EUR 40 million must be

submitted to the Ministry of Finance for evaluation. For projects above EUR 40 million, mandatory

feasibility studies. are performed. The assessment of the investment projects is carried out centrally by

the Ministry of Finance, unless a project is classified as a ”strategic investment”, in which case the

assessment does not have to be centrally performed by the Ministry of Finance. Since 2021, only

evaluated and prepared projects can be included in the budget. By contrast, there are no systematic ex

post reviews or asset registers in place.

Table A1.10:Fiscal

Governance Database Indicators

2023

Country Fiscal Rule Strength Index (C-FRSI)

Medium-Term Budgetary Framework Index (MTBFI)

Slovakia

16.06

0.78

EU Average

14.52

0.73

The Country Fiscal Rule Strength Index (C-FRSI) shows the strength of national fiscal rules aggregated at the country level based

on i) the legal base, ii) how binding the rule is, iii) monitoring bodies, iv) correction mechanisms, and v) resilience to shocks. The

Medium-Term Budgetary Framework Index (MTBFI) shows the strength of the national MTBF based on i) coverage of the

targets/ceilings included in the national medium-term fiscal plans; ii) connectedness between these targets/ceilings and the

annual budgets; iii) involvement of the national parliament in the preparation of the plans; iv) involvement of independent fiscal

institutions in their preparation; and v) their level of detail. A higher score is associated with higher rule and MTBF strength.

Source:

Fiscal Governance Database

(

) Measure C.18 [R.3] on streamlining

public investment - application of the methodology for the procedures for preparing and

prioritising investments.

(

) Recovery and Resilience Plan measure C.18 [R.3].

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

ANNEX 2: TAXATION

This annex provides an indicator-based

overview of Slovakia’s tax system.

It includes

information on: (i) the tax mix: (ii) competitiveness

and fairness aspects of the tax system; and (iii)

tax collection and compliance.

In October 2024, Slovakia's parliament

approved

comprehensive

fiscal

consolidation

package

(combining

expenditure cuts and revenues increases)

totalling EUR 2.7 billion.

The package is

supposed to reduce the budget deficit by

approximately 1 percentage point annually and

bring it below 3% of GDP by 2027. Among tax

increases, the consolidation plan includes: (i)

adjustments to VAT (increase of a base rate from

20% to 23%); (ii) reforms of corporate-income tax

(CIT) (strengthening the progressive nature of the

tax structure); (iii) the introduction of a financial

transaction tax; and (iv) the strengthening of the

special levy in regulated industries. These

measures reflect Slovakia’s commitment to fiscal

discipline and are designed to stabilise the debt-

to-GDP ratio at approximately 60.5% by 2028.

The tax mix could be made more efficient

and more supportive of inclusive and

sustainable growth.

Table A2.1 shows that

Slovakia’s total tax revenue

in 2024 was

Table A2.1:

Taxation indicators

Median (EU-27)

Tax structure

equivalent to 35.3% of GDP, well below the EU

aggregate of 39.0% despite a steady upward

trend in the ratio since 2010. Both labour and

consumption taxes account for a significantly

higher share of Slovakia’s total tax revenue

(Graph

A2.1) than the respective EU averages. The largest

portion of tax revenues comes from labour taxes,

which represent 53.9% of total tax revenue (2.7

pps above the EU average). This is followed by

consumption taxes which make up 33.0% of total

revenue, compared with the EU average of 26.9%.

A distinctive

feature of Slovakia’s tax mix is that

the high share of labour taxes is primarily driven

by compulsory social contributions, which amount

to 42.9% of total revenue, exceeding the EU

average (32.6%) for 10.3 pps (in terms of GDP,

social contributions in Slovakia amounted to

15.1% of GDP, against the EU average of 12.7%

of GDP). In contrast, taxes on capital account for

only 13.1% of total taxation, significantly below

the EU average of 21.9%. The structure of

Slovakia’s tax mix suggests

that careful

consideration should be given to a rebalancing,

shifting the burden away from labour taxation to

capital taxation. This could play a role in

supporting inclusive growth and equality of

opportunity.

Slovakia

2010 2021 2022

Total taxes (including compulsory actual social contributions) (% of

GDP)

Taxes on labour (% of GDP)

of which, social security contributions (SSC, % of GDP)

Taxes on consumption (% of GDP)

of which, value added taxes (VAT, % of GDP)

Taxes on capital (% of GDP)

Personal income taxes (PIT, % of GDP)

Corporate income taxes (CIT, % of GDP)

Total property taxes (% of GDP)

Recurrent taxes on immovable property (% of GDP)

Environmental taxes (% of GDP)

Effective carbon rate in EUR per tonne of CO

equivalents

Tax wedge at 50% of average wage (single person) (*)

Tax wedge at 100% of average wage (single person) (*)

Corporate income tax - effective average tax rates (1) (*)

Difference in Gini coefficient before and after taxes and cash social

transfers (pensions excluded from social transfers) (2) (*)

Outstanding tax arrears: total year-end tax debt (including debt

VAT gap (% of VAT total tax liability, VTTL) (**)

27.8

14.4

11.9

9.8

6.1

3.6

2.6

2.4

0.4

2.1

31.8

38.1

18.6

5.6

34.7

18.6

15.0

11.3

7.4

4.7

3.7

3.6

0.5

2.3

65.8

36.9

41.5

20.6

6.4

21.6

13.8

35.0

18.4

14.7

11.3

7.7

5.2

3.7

3.6

0.4

2.5

37.3

41.6

20.6

6.0

19.8

14.6

2023

34.9

18.9

15.1

11.6

8.0

4.6

3.8

3.6

0.4

2.0

64.1

37.6

41.7

20.6

6.6

2024

35.3

2010

37.8

19.8

12.9

10.9

6.8

7.1

8.6

2.2

1.9

1.1

2.5

33.9

40.9

21.3

8.6

EU-27

2021 2022 2023

40.2

20.5

13.0

11.2

7.3

8.5

9.6

2.9

2.2

1.1

2.4

86.0

31.8

39.9

19.3

8.2

35.5

6.6

39.7

20.1

12.7

10.9

7.4

8.7

9.4

3.2

2.1

1.0

2.1

31.5

39.9

19.1

7.9

32.6

7.0

39.0

20.0

12.7

10.5

7.1

8.5

9.3

3.2

1.9

0.9

2.0

84.8

31.5

40.2

18.9

7.7

2024

By tax base

Some tax types

Progressivity &

fairness

38.2

42.6

31.8

40.3

Tax administration &

considered not collectable) / total revenue (in %) (*)

compliance

(1) Forward-looking effective tax rate (KPMG).

(2) A higher value indicates a stronger redistributive impact of taxation.

(*) EU-27 simple average.

(**) For more details on the VAT gap, see European Commission, Directorate-General for Taxation and Customs Union, VAT gap in

the EU - 2024 report,

https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2778/2476549

For more data on tax revenues as well as the methodology applied, see the Data on Taxation webpage,

https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/taxation-1/economic-analysis-taxation/data-taxation_en.

Source:

European Commission, OECD

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

Revenues from property taxes in Slovakia

are low (equivalent to 0.4% of GDP in 2023

compared with 1.9% of GDP in the EU as a

whole), despite property taxes being

considered relatively growth friendly.

Unlike

most other Member States, Slovakia has an area-

based taxation system, in which immovable

property is taxed based on its area rather than its

estimated market value. In such a taxation

framework, the location, quality, type, number of

rooms and age of the dwelling are not factored in,

and this hampers fairness and equity. Slovakia still

does not possess either valuation systems or

sufficient data to align the notional property

values used by the taxation system with market

values. Given these characteristics, implementing a

market-value-based taxation system, either in

addition to or as a replacement for the current

area-based system, would be more appropriate to

improve fairness, increase tax revenue, and help

dampen real estate demand. Currently, the market

value is factored in the calculation of the land tax

which, however, does not apply to areas covered

by buildings or apartments. In this regard, the

extension of a levy on land value, typically

imposed on landowners, could be an efficient and

non-distortive solution to address the issues

arising from the current area-based property tax

system.

With the stagnating share of environmental

taxation in Slovakia’s tax mix, more use can

be made of this tax type.

Specifically, revenues

derived from taxes on transport, pollution and

natural resources, consistently below the EU

average, indicate potential to strengthen the

application of the ‘polluter pays’ principle. Effective

carbon rate in EUR per tonne of CO

equivalents in

Slovakia (64.1) is significantly below the EU

average (84.8), which suggests weaker economic

incentives for businesses and consumers to reduce

emissions in line with EU and global climate goals.

To fully internalise externalities, Slovakia could

consider expanding the use of underutilised

environmental tax instruments such as waste

disposal taxes (including incineration), transport

taxes, and additional levies on waste discharge

into water or plastic products.

Graph A2.1:

Tax revenue shares in 2024

Tax revenue shares in 2023, Slovakia (outer ring)

and EU (inner ring)

13.1

21.9

51.2

33.2

26.9

54.3

Taxes on labour

Taxes on consumption

Taxes on capital

Source:

Taxation Trends Data, DG TAXUD

The consolidation package will impact

companies through increased taxation and

higher operational costs.

This could reduce

economic activity, impacting corporate expansion

and resulting in a slowdown of economic growth

and higher inflation in the short term. The

progressive tax structure of the new CIT (ranging

from 10% till 24%) is expected to increase

revenue generation for public services and

infrastructure, potentially improving the business

environment. However, it may also lead larger

corporations to reassess their investment

strategies in Slovakia due to increased tax

liabilities. The overall impact will depend on how

businesses adapt to these changes and on how

effective the government is in implementing them.

Slovakia ranked 15th in investment (gross

fixed capital formation) as a share of GDP in

the EU, at 22.0% in 2023, close to the EU-27

average (22.2%).

Investment growth is set to be

limited in 2024, following a jump in 2023 due to

intensified use of EU funds by the end of the year.

In 2025, investment is expected to pick up again,

driven by absorption of EU structural funds and

the Recovery and Resilience Facility. On R&D

expenditure as a share of GDP, in 2022 Slovakia

ranked within the lower third of EU countries,

holding the 20th position in the EU-27. In terms of

public support for R&D expenditure, Slovakia

performed slightly better, although it remains

considerably behind the EU average.

Nevertheless, Slovakia offers a range of

support mechanisms for startups and scale-

ups,

including equity investments through

government-backed funds, tax incentives for

investors, and provisions for employee stock

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

options, all aimed at fostering innovation and

economic growth.

Finding skilled staff, uncertainty, and energy

costs remain the main investment obstacles

for businesses.

In the European Investment

Bank’s 2024 investment survey,

Slovakia had the

worst ranking for

skilled staff. Businesses’

difficulties in hiring skilled staff have worsened

recently, resulting in 93% of firms now facing this

challenge, compared with 77% in the EU.

Uncertainty about the future is a concern for 90%

of businesses against an EU average of 79%.

Energy-cost barriers slightly decreased in 2024

compared with 2023, although this issue remains

more pressing in Slovakia than elsewhere in the

EU.

Graph A2.2:

Tax wedge for single and second

earners, % of total labour costs, 2024

Tax wedge, % of total labour costs

wedge faced by these second earners was higher

than that of single people at the same wage level.

The ability of the tax-and-benefit system to

reduce inequality (measured by its ability to

reduce the Gini coefficient) has increased from 5.6

points since 2010 to 6.6 in 2023. (see Table A2.1).

While this is below the EU average (7.7 points), it

is sufficient to keep inequality in Slovakia as

measured by the Gini index among the lowest in

the EU.

Slovakia has shown commitment to

improving the efficiency of its tax-collection

system through significant IT investments

and a comprehensive digital transformation

strategy.

The VAT gap has decreased significantly

in recent years in Slovakia, but despite marked

improvements in recent years, the VAT compliance

gap remains above the EU average. The ongoing

digitalisation efforts (e.g. mandatory e-invoices for

domestic

business-to-business

transactions

planned as of 1 January 2027) are likely to

increase the overall effectiveness of Slovakia's tax

administration.

The shares of e-filing rates for CIT and VAT

are above the EU average, although there is

room for improvement for e-filing of

personal-income-tax returns in Slovakia.

Slovakia is progressing towards implementing e-

filing for all types of taxes. Efforts are ongoing to

expand e-filing capabilities.

Estimates of total tax-compliance costs for

SMEs in Slovakia are well below the EU

average.

For estimated average CIT compliance

costs, Slovakia has the second lowest costs in the

EU. Similarly, looking at estimated average VAT

compliance costs, Slovakia also has the lowest

costs in the EU.

On dispute-resolution, the overall inventory

of cases does not stand out as particularly

high,

and the average time a dispute-resolution

cycle takes is two years.

46.4

44.5

42.6

38.2

40.4

100

150

Earnings as % of the average wage

Single earner - SK

Second earner - SK

Single earner - EU average

Second earner - EU average

The tax wedge for second earners assumes a first earner at

100% of the average wage and no children. For the full

methodology, see OECD, 2016, Taxing Wages 2014-2015.

Source:

European Commission

Labour taxation is less progressive than on

average in the EU due to a relatively high tax

wedge (

) for lower-wage earners.

Graph A2.2

shows that the labour tax wedgefor Slovakia in

2024 was above the EU average for low earners

(e.g. 38.2% for single people earning 50% of the

average wage, compared to an EU average of

31.8%), and close to the EU average at higher

wage levels. Second earners earning a wage of

67% of the average wage, whose spouses earn

the average wage, were subject to a tax wedge

greater than the EU average. In addition, the tax

(

) The tax wedge is defined as the sum of personal income

taxes and employee and employer social-security

contributions net of family allowances, expressed as a

percentage of total labour costs (the sum of the gross wage

and social-security contributions paid by the employer).

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

PRODUCTIVITY

ANNEX 3: INNOVATION TO BUSINESS

Slovakia is an ‘emerging innovator’, and the

gap between its performance and the EU

average is widening.

According to the 2024

edition of the European Innovation Scoreboard (

Slovakia’s

performance

(65.1%)

remains

significantly below the EU average and is

improving at a lower rate than the EU average.

Slovakia’s R&D intensity (

) increased in 2023 but

remains well below the EU average (1.03% vs

2.24%). In its 2023 national strategy for research,

development and innovation (NSRDI) (

), Slovakia

set a 2% target for R&D intensity and provided an

action plan containing concrete measures (

) for

reforming the research and innovation (R&I)

system. This is much needed, considering the weak

and fragmented public science base and modest

innovation activity in the private sector,

particularly SMEs. The country is also lagging

behind in the adoption of advanced digital

technologies, which remains below the EU average.

To successfully implement the NSRDI, a whole-of-

government approach and strong coordination is

needed. Moreover, the digitalisation of businesses

remains an issue in Slovakia despite recent

progress in the uptake of AI solutions.

in 2021), although it has increased slightly (up

from 3.6% in 2017). This points to a weak public

science

base

due

long-standing

underinvestment ( ) and a fragmented landscape

of R&I performing institutions of 35 higher

education institutions and 45 research centres and

institutes. Reforms to improve R&I governance and

coordination have been launched under the

recovery and resilience plan, complemented by an

analysis of the responsibilities of ministries,

funding agencies and policymaking organisations.

Some of these proposals for streamlining

governance are likely to be reflected in the new

R&I bill currently in the legislative process.

Moreover, the NSRDI action plan envisages an

evaluation of five ongoing reforms aimed at

enhancing the quality of higher education

institutions, including a periodic assessment of

their scientific performance (

). The bill is

expected to propose further reforms aimed at

boosting research and innovation, drawing on

lessons learned. Continued support for high-quality

scientific outputs, along with further efforts to

consolidate the fragmented system, are needed to

build a critical mass and achieve the targets (

)

set by the NSRDI and the action plan. In this

respect, engaging international evaluators in calls

funded from the recovery and resilience facility

guaranteed more efficient evaluations, reduced

conflicts of interest and thus proved as good

practice.

Science and innovative ecosystems

A weak and fragmented public science base

restricts the potential for knowledge

diffusion, which is essential for boosting

competitiveness.

Slovakia’s share of scientific

publications among the top 10% most cited, as a

percentage of its total scientific publications,

remains one of the lowest among EU Member

States (4.6% compared to the EU average of 9.6%

(

) 2024, European Innovation Scoreboard, Country profile:

Slovakia..

The EIS provides a comparative analysis of

innovation performance in EU countries, including the relative

strengths and weaknesses of their national innovation

systems.

(

) R&D intensity is defined as gross domestic expenditure on

R&D as a percentage of GDP.

(

) Web page:

Národná stratégia v�½skumu, v�½voja a inovácií

–

V�½skumná a inovačná autorita.

(

) The authorities have announced that by June 2024, 28 out

of a total of 91 measures of the action plan had been

completed.

(

) At 0.45% of GDP, public expenditure on R&D (GOVERD +

HERD) remains significantly below the EU average of 0.72%

and is increasing only at a slow pace (by 0.41% in 2020).

(

) In 2024, a total of EUR 84 million was allocated to quality-

related funding based on the verification of excellence in

research (VER). This amount is expected to remain the same

or increase in 2025 and 2026.

(

) One such target is to increase the share of scientific

publications among the top 10% most cited, as a percentage

of total scientific publications, to 8% by 2030 (from 4.6% in

2021).

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

Graph A3.1:

Slovakia’s share of scientific

publications among the top 10% most cited as a

percentage of its total scientific publications

9.6

innovation activity in the business sector to

achieve the 1.2% target for business R&D remains

a key priority (

). Additionally, Slovakia would

benefit from participating in the unitary patent

system, which offers key advantages in terms of

promoting

innovation

and

enhancing

competitiveness ( ).

Graph A3.2:

Business expenditure on R&D as a

percentage of GDP in the Visegrad countries

1.6

4.6

1.4

1.2

0.8

0.6

0.4

EU average

Source:

Eurostat

1.19

0.58

Business innovation

Slovakia’s ability to innovate and integrate

new technologies is limited, with low R&D

expenditure in the private sector.

There is a

high proportion of low-productivity micro-

enterprises in the Slovak business population.

These micro-enterprises, businesses with less than

10 employees, which represent 97% of firms and

account for over 40% of business-sector

employment in Slovakia, engage little in research

and innovation (

). Productivity growth has mostly

been driven by the manufacturing sector,

especially large multinational firms, while

productivity gains in service sectors have been

more moderate (

). The size of the ICT sector is

below the EU average (4.71% vs 5.49% in gross

value added in 2021) and R&D business

expenditure in the ICT sector amounts to 27.58%

of total R&D expenditure (

). Overall weak

innovation activity in the private sector is also

reflected in low business enterprise expenditure on

R&D (BERD) as a percentage of GDP, which in

2023 stood at 0.58% compared to the EU average

of 1.49%. Moreover, it results in low innovation

output, as measured for instance in patent

applications. In 2022, only 0.5 patents were filed

under the Patent Cooperation Treaty per billion

GDP, while the EU average was 2.8. Boosting

(

) OECD report

Strengthening FDI and SME Linkages in the

Slovak Republic | OECD, 2022.

( ) OECD (2024),

OECD Economic Surveys: Slovak Republic

2024:

https://doi.org/10.1787/397ca086-en.

0.2

average

2023

1.49

Source:

Eurostat

Slovakia continues to lag behind on the

digitalisation of businesses.

In 2024, 62.9% of

Slovak SMEs have a basic level of digital intensity,

considerably below the EU average of 72.91%. The

country also performs below the EU average as

regards the proportion of businesses that have

taken up advanced digital technologies (i.e.

artificial intelligence, cloud computing services and

data analytics). However, there is a promising

trend in the adoption of AI solutions, with 10.78%

of Slovak businesses using AI in 2024, which

indicates a 53.13% increase from 7.04% in 2023.

Adoption of AI technology by businesses

nonetheless remains below the EU average of

13.48%. Along similar lines, in 2023, 30.17% of

Slovak enterprises have adopted data analytics as

opposed to 33.17% at EU level, while 30.16%

used cloud computing services, as opposed to

38.86% at EU level. Overall, considerable work is

still required to reach the 2030 goal of achieving

75% adoption of AI, cloud computing and data

analytics, and other Digital Decade targets.

Exploring the potential of better targeted

public support could be beneficial in

stimulating companies to engage in

(

) Target set in the national strategy for research, development

and innovation.

(

) The country is has already signed and is expected to ratify

the Unified Patent Court Agreement.

(

) Eurostat,

ICT sector size

and

R&D in ICT sector,

2021 data.

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

innovation.

Total public-sector support for

business R&D expenditure as a percentage of GDP

is significantly below the EU average (0.204%).

However, in an encouraging recent trend, the rate

increased from 0.022% in 2017 to 0.092% in

2021. This growth has been driven by increased

R&D tax incentives, while direct support to R&D

has stagnated at a low level. Recent evaluations of

the R&D tax allowance (

) suggest that the

scheme mainly benefits large, incumbent, and

multinational firms (

). Moreover, a recent OECD

report (

) notes that the R&D tax incentive scheme

(

) does not include cash refunds, which could be

particularly beneficial for smaller and recently

established companies in need of financial support

at an early stage of the innovation process. Also,

an evaluation (

)

of the ‘patent box’ (

) scheme

has shown that it only benefited a few larger

companies, and that the current set-up is not likely

to boost the level of intellectual property by

stimulating patent activity by domestic businesses

or attracting foreign patents. Expanding the use of

direct competitive grant schemes is a measure to

be considered, along with continued use of the

newly established portal (

) as a one-stop shop

for finding information on public support for R&I.

Collaboration between businesses and the

research sector is limited, with little

technology

transfer.

Science-business

collaboration in Slovakia has been held back by a

weak science and innovation base, combined with

(

) The R&D tax allowance was reduced from 200% to 100% of

eligible R&D expenditure in 2022.

(

) MoF and VAIA, 2023,

Review of Spending, Competencies and

Personnel in Research, Development and Innovation. Final

Report:

Research (see p. 76).

(

) OECD (2024),

OECD Economic Surveys: Slovak Republic

2024:

https://doi.org/10.1787/397ca086-en

(see p. 50).

(

) MoF and VAIA, 2023,

Review of Spending, Competencies and

Personnel in Research, Development and Innovation. Final

Report:

Research

–(see

p. 74) tax instruments include: tax

relief for beneficieries of incentives; deduction of R&D

expences; patent box.

(

) MoF and VAIA, 2023,

Review of Spending, Competencies and

Personnel in Research, Development and Innovation Final

Report:

Research (see p. 79).

(

) patent box" refers to a tax regime that allows companies to

apply a reduced corporate tax rate to income derived from

intellectual property (IP) assets, such as patents, copyrights,

and trademarks.

(

)

Support finder - Research and Innovation Portal.

a lack of infrastructure to support collaboration

between academia and industry. This is reflected

in some relevant indicators, such as public

expenditure on R&D funded by businesses as a

percentage of GDP, which is very low and far

below the EU average (0.006% compared to

0.050% in 2022); it has also been declining over

time (from 0.034% in 2012). Moreover, in 2023

the number of researchers (full-time equivalents)

employed by businesses was significantly lower

–

less than half

–

than the EU average. However,

data on public-private scientific co-publications as

a share of total publications show a more positive

trend, rising from 4.9% in 2013 to 7% in 2023,

which is still slightly below the EU average of

7.7%. This is due, among other things, to the

structure of the Slovak business population, which

is dominated by micro-enterprises with no

innovation activity. These firms typically have

limited capacity for setting up collaboration

linkages with academia that support knowledge

transfer and for adopting advanced foreign

technologies (

). More recently, the recovery and

resilience plan has stimulated academia-business

cooperation

through

several

investment

streams ( ). However, shortcomings remain and

are acknowledged in the 2023 R&D strategy,

which includes specific measures in its action plan,

such as improved support for technology transfer

offices and simplified management of intellectual

property rights. Implementing these targeted

measures is essential, while ensuring stability of

dedicated programmes. Moreover, the lack of

collaboration between sectors should also be

addressed in the planned updated version of the

action plan.

Financing innovation

The local venture capital and growth capital

market is not developed enough to meet the

financing needs of innovative firms.

Venture

capital investment has been growing slowly, from

0.003% of GDP in 2014 to 0.015% in 2023, but

remains very low in comparison to the EU average

of 0.078%. Similarly, the value of private equity

(

) OECD (2022),

Strengthening FDI and SME Linkages in the

Slovak Republic:

https://doi.org/10.1787/972046f5-en.

(

) Component 9 Investment 2: Support for cooperation

between companies, academia and research organisations.

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

relative to nominal GDP increased from 0.02% in

2022 to 0.03% in 2023 but remains below the EU

average of 0.41%. There are some initiatives in

place to promote start-up funding, such as a

crowdfunding platform to enable some businesses

to access venture and growth capital, but the

available funds are limited. However, there is no

comprehensive legal framework for supporting the

creation and growth of start-ups.

measures in this domain. Also, in line with the

action plan, a unit in charge of coordinating and

guiding policies on retaining and attracting talent

has been set up within the Research and

Innovation Authority (VAIA).

Entrepreneurship education is integrated into

the national curriculum as a part of the

national financial literacy standard, covering

both primary and secondary schools and

vocational and educational training.

However,

there is less emphasis on developing

entrepreneurship in higher education than in

secondary education.

Innovative talent

Slovakian businesses grapple with the

consequences of a considerable skill gaps.

According to a recent OECD study (

), 54% of

Slovakian enterprises report skill gaps (

). This has

a number of adverse consequences for firms. One

in three firms says that skills mismatches limit

their ability to adopt new technologies. This

highlights the significant economic risks involved

and the need to address this issue. Students

enrolled in science, technology, engineering and

mathematics programmes accounted for 21.8% of

all tertiary enrolments (ISCED 5-8) in 2022,

significantly lower than the EU average of 27.1%

and a decrease from 22.8% since 2017 (see

Annex 10). Moreover, Slovakia continues to face a

brain drain, as Slovak higher education institutions

are poorly ranked internationally, and the research

quality is low (

). This is reflected in the very high

proportion of high-school graduates who study

abroad, few of whom intend to return home after

their studies (

). This implies that Slovakia is

losing some of its most-skilled workers, further

aggravating skills shortages. The national strategy

for research, development and innovation

acknowledges the necessity to retain and attract

talent, and its action plan incorporates several

(

) OECD (2024),

Understanding Skill Gaps in Firms: Results of

the PIAAC Employer Module,

OECD Skills Studies, OECD

Publishing, Paris:

https://doi.org/10.1787/b388d1da-en.

(

) Skill gaps are defined as mismatches between the skills

available in a firm and those required to meet current and

future business needs (including adapting to technological

change).

(

) OECD (2021),

Improving Higher Education in the Slovak

Republic,

Higher

Education,

OECD

Publishing,

Paris,

https://doi.org/10.1787/259e23ba-en.

(

) Martinák and Varsik, 2020.

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

Table A3.1:

Key innovation indicators

Slovakia

Headline indicator

R&D intensity (gross domestic expenditure on R&D as % of GDP)

Science and innovative ecosystems

Public expenditure on R&D as % of GDP

Scientific publications of the country within the top 10% most cited

publications worldwide as % of total publications of the country

Researchers (FTE) employed by public sector (Gov+HEI) per thousand

active population

International co-publications as % of total number of publications

R&D investment & researchers employed in businesses

Business enterprise expenditure on R&D (BERD) as % of GDP

Business enterprise expenditure on R&D (BERD) performed by SMEs as %

of GDP

Researchers employed by business per thousand active population

Innovation outputs

Patent Cooperation Treaty patent applications per billion GDP (in PPS€)

Employment share of high-growth enterprises measured in employment

(%)

Digitalisation of businesses

SMEs with at least a basic level of digital intensity

% SMEs (EU Digital Decade target by 2030: 90%)

Data analytics adoption

% enterprises (EU Digital Decade target by 2030: 75%)

Cloud adoption

% enterprises (EU Digital Decade target by 2030: 75%)

Artificial intelligence adoption

% enterprises (EU Digital Decade target by 2030: 75%)

Academia-business collaboration

Public-private scientific co-publications as % of total number of

publications

Public expenditure on R&D financed by business enterprise (national) as %

of GDP

Public support for business innovation

Total public sector support for BERD as % of GDP

R&D tax incentives: foregone revenues as % of GDP

BERD financed by the public sector (national and abroad) as % of GDP

Financing innovation

Venture capital (market statistics) as % of GDP, total (calculated as a 3-

year moving average)

Seed funding (market statistics) as % of GDP

Start-up and early-stage funding (market statistics) as % of GDP

Later stage and scale-up funding (market statistics) as % of GDP

Innovative talent

New graduates in science and engineering per thousand population aged

25-34

Graduates in the field of computing per thousand population aged 25-34

16.7

2.3

8.8

2.2

8.9

2.3

8.6

2.5

17.6

3.6

0.001

84.1

15.9

0.012

16.1

71.9

0.016

11.2

74.1

14.7

0.021

64.1

25.9

0.019

17.7

57.8

24.4

0.015

20.5

40.8

38.7

0.078

7.3

44.0

48.7

5.8

0.034

5.9

0.021

6.3

0.008

6.9

0.008

6.9

0.006

7.7

0.05

8.9

0.02

0.4

21`.50

0.6

18.81

0.6

10.19

0.6

0.5

2.8

12.51

0.33

0.12

0.9

0.48

0.14

1.2

0.48

0.21

1.5

0.5

0.23

1.8

0.56

0.26

2.1

0.58

2.4

1.49

0.40

5.7

2.7

0.30

0.46

3.4

4.6

41.4

0.4

3.6

4.2

42.3

0.41

4.3

4.7

49.8

0.4

4.6

4.7

49.9

0.42

4.7

48.9

0.45

50.6

0.72

9.6

4.2

55.9

0.64

12.3

39.3

0.79

0.88

0.89

0.9

0.98

1.03

2.24

3.45

2012

2017

2020

2021

2022

2023

2024 EU average (1)

USA

30.84

5.19

60.24

30.17

30.16

7.04

62.9

10.78

72.91

33.17

38.86

13.48

0.032

0.0001

0.032

0.022

0.01

0.013

0.065

0.043

0.022

0.091

0.060

0.032

0.600

0.040

0.020

0.204

0.102

0.100

0.251

0.141

0.110

(1) EU average for the last available year or the year with the highest number of country data.

Source:

Eurostat, DG JRC, OECD, Science-Metrix (Scopus database), Invest Europe, European Innovation Scoreboard.

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

ANNEX 4: MAKING BUSINESS EASIER

Slovakia’s business environment faces

challenges linked to high levels of

administrative and regulatory burden,

requiring further progress in addressing

barriers to remain competitive in the long

term.

Despite several reforms to reduce the

administrative and regulatory burden on

businesses over recent years, significant

challenges persist. The competitiveness of the

Slovak economy has further deteriorated over the

last decade, the country has become less

attractive to foreign investors, and the

consolidation package adopted by the Slovak

parliament in September 2024 poses new

challenges and costs for Slovak businesses.

dominate. Meanwhile, investments in intellectual

property represent less than half and in research

and development only a third of the share of

western EU countries (see the Innovation to

Business Annex).

Availability of skilled staff and uncertainty

about the future remain the main investment

obstacles for businesses.

Slovakia ranks as the

worst for lack of skilled staff (

). Businesses’

difficulties in hiring skilled staff have worsened,

with a 10 percentage-point increase in 2024

compared to 2023, resulting in 93% of firms

facing this challenge (against 77% in the EU) (see

the Labour market Annex). Uncertainty about the

future is the second major investment obstacle. In

Slovakia, this issue has grown more pressing in

2024, with 90% of businesses facing uncertainty,

an 8 percentage-point increase on 2023. The

Slovak figure significantly surpasses the EU

average of 79% for 2024.

Slovakia ranks bottom of the Central and

Eastern Europe region (CEE) when it comes to

attracting foreign investments.

The country’s

attractiveness to foreign companies has been the

lowest in the last five years (

). While in 2014-

2023 Slovakia received foreign capital at the level

of 1 per cent of GDP per year, the countries of the

CEE region averaged up to 2.5% of GDP (

Foreign capital has undoubtedly been one of the

main factors in the success of the Slovak economy

in recent decades. Slovakia’s foreign direct

investment rate dropped from 2.1% GDP in 2022

to just 0.1% in 2023.

Slovakia’s payment environment reflects a

mixed landscape, with structural challenges

ongoing.

The business-to-business payment gap

and the gap from the public sector decreased in

2024 compared to 2023 and are below the EU

average. A reform under the Slovak medium-term

fiscal-structural plan, introducing a mandatory e-

invoicing system, could help further reduce late

payments in commercial transactions in

Economic framework conditions

The business environment in Slovakia

remains one of the least favourable in the

EU.

According to the Prosperity and Financial

Health Index (

), Slovakia has the worst conditions

for doing business in the EU. Among the factors

behind this unfavourable position are: long-

standing structural problems related to the quality

of education and innovation; increased taxes and a

higher tax wedge for businesses; and an

unpredictable regulatory regime. Underperforming

market capitalisation limits financing for

companies and start-ups, and restricts company

growth (see the Annexes on Innovation to Business

and on Capital markets, financial stability and

access to finance).

Public and private investments face a long-

term structural challenge in Slovakia,

hindering

further

economic

growth.

Investments in Slovakia account for approximately

20% of GDP (

), with businesses making almost

two thirds of total investments. This share has not

changed much over the past 15 years. Although

the total share of investments is comparable to

other EU countries, the key distinction lies in their

composition.

Machinery

and

equipment

investments and investments in buildings,

(

)

Česká spořitelna, Europe in Data portal and the Institute of

Sociology of the Czech Academy of Sciences:

The Prosperity

and Financial Health Index,

December 2024.

(

) National Bank of Slovakia:

Ako

sa banky podieľajú na

financovaní investícií podnikov?.

September 2024.

(

) European Investment Bank,

EIB Investment Survey 2024,

based on interviews carried out between April and July 2024.

(

) Chambers of Commerce of NL, DE, IT, FR, AT, SE in Slovakia:

Prieskum konjunktúry medzi európskymi investormi v SR,

April 2024.pdf.

(

) UniCredit Bank Czech Republic and Slovakia, Weekly Notes

40/2024.pdf.

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

Slovakia (

). However, the share of SMEs

experiencing late payments is higher in Slovakia

(51%) than in the EU overall (47%). Excessive

payment delays in the public health sector create

a considerable barrier for businesses, limiting their

competitiveness and resilience. Despite a Court of

Justice ruling on late payment (

), Slovakia has

yet to ensure that its public healthcare authorities

comply properly with the 60-day payment period

for paying suppliers.

Slovakia’s digital infrastructure requires

significant improvement to meet EU targets,

particularly in rural areas.

In 2023, Slovakia

achieved 69.12% Very High-Capacity Networks

(VHCN) coverage, falling short of the EU average

(78.81%) and slightly declining from 71.31% in

2022. While Fiber to the Premises (FTTP) coverage

was in line with the EU average at 64.19%, it also

slightly decreased compared to 2022 (66.89%).

The percentage decrease in VHCN and FTTP

coverage in 2023 is because the number of

households has increased. However, the number of

VHCN connections increased in absolute value by

59099 and FTTP connections by 43429 in 2023.

In rural areas, VHCN and FTTP coverage increased

from 2022, but remained consistently lower than

EU average (at 35% for VHCN and 34.96% for

FTTP, compared to the EU’s 55.64% and 52.72%).

Slovakia’s 5G coverage reached 79% in 2023,

exceeding the 2022 figure (55.34%) but remaining

behind the EU average of over 89.3%. The gap is

particularly wide in rural areas, where 5G coverage

is 46.14%, compared to the EU’s 73.71%. Recent

developments are impacting infrastructure

deployment, including the possibility to install fibre

optic networks on existing poles. The new

construction law will introduce changes aimed at

streamlining processes. While its full impact is still

unclear, the Gigabit Infrastructure Act is expected

to further simplify the rollout of gigabit networks.

Slovak businesses show resilience to ICT

security incidents and a strong focus on

employee awareness, but they fall short of

the EU average in implementing security

measures.

While the share of enterprises

experiencing ICT security incidents due to external

(

) EU Payment Observatory:

How electronic invoicing helps

reduce late payments in commercial transactions,

July 2024.

(

) On 19 September 2024 the Court of Justice of the European

Union ruled that Slovakia had failed to fulfil its obligations

under the Late Payment Directive (C-412/23).

attacks increased to 2.02% in 2024, from 1.78%

in 2022, it remains below the EU average of

3.43% (

). 87.13% of enterprises implemented

ICT security measures, below the EU’s 92.76%,

while 61.44% made their employees aware of

their obligations in ICT security related issues

(above the EU average of 59.97%) (

Regulatory and administrative

barriers

The complexity of administrative processes

and rapidly changing legislation are the most

significant problems when doing business in

Slovakia.

These areas have been ranked as the

two main issues in Eurobarometer measurements

for the past decade (

). Another study (

monitoring the frequency of amendments to laws

affecting businesses in 2017-2021, indicated that

25 significant business-related laws had been

amended 308 times over the monitored period,

which is almost 62 times per calendar year on

average.

An evidence-based and systematic legislative

process, clear rules on better regulation, and

enhanced policy coordination would create a

more favourable and predictable business

environment.

While in the past, the fast-track

legislative procedure was the exception, over the

past few years it has become standard practice.

The number of legislative proposals bypassing the

standard impact assessment and interservice

consultation increased most between March 2020

and February 2023 (mainly due to the COVID-19

pandemic), reaching 46% of adopted laws (

) and

remains still high (between October 2023-

February 2025, it was 37% compared to 16% in

2016-2019). This shift has led to concerns,

including among businesses, that the quality and

thoroughness of legislation is being compromised.

(

) Eurostat,

isoc_cisce_ic.

(

) Eurostat,

isoc_cisce_ra.

(

) Eurobarometer:

Businesses’ Attitudes towards Corruption in

the EU (2013-2023).

(

) Slovak Business Agency,

The analysis of the quality of the

regulatory framework and the legislative process, 2022.

(

) Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic,

Ako_nestrielat_naslepo.pdf,

2023.

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

Reducing the reliance on fast-track procedures,

improving the quality, setting clear and binding

rules on better regulation and implementing them

effectively, and alleviating the excessive

regulatory burden would enable businesses to

better anticipate and plan investments (see also

the Effective institutional framework Annex). The

new Government Council for Competitiveness and

Productivity (a merger of two similar advisory

bodies) is expected to start operations in the first

half of 2025 and could stimulate dialogue on the

competitiveness of the Slovak economy between

ministries and other key economic and social

stakeholders.

Graph A4.1:

Making Business Easier: selected

indicators.

(1) Regulatory

burden

Regulation as a major

obstacle to investment

24.5

27.3

41.6

EU Trade Integration

61.9

Material shortages as a

factor limiting production

packages (

), 412 measures implemented in

2020-2024 brought EUR 581.3 million in savings

for the business environment. Around 40

legislative proposals are being assessed annually

to prevent gold-plating and 250 ex-post

evaluation are being conducted in order to review

existing

regulations.

Moreover,

adopting

proportionality in regulatory impact assessments

(RIA) and the creation of an IT platform for better

regulation are aimed at streamlining the RIA

processes. Even though the measures have the

potential to build a competitive business

environment, their effects have not yet been

widely perceived by businesses. According to

stakeholders, they have provided only marginal

improvements, often overshadowed by large

legislative packages (e.g. the consolidation

package) adopted without sufficient prior

consultation and impact assessment. This is also

confirmed by the EIB investment surveys (

), with

the score for business and labour regulations in

Slovakia significantly deteriorating in 2024

compared to the previous year. The perception of

business regulations as a barrier to investment

worsened among Slovak businesses, with that

view rising from 57% in 2023 to 70% in 2024.

This trend was echoed by labour regulations, which

76% of businesses saw as an obstacle to

investment in 2024, a 16 percentage-point

increase on the previous year.

The government consolidation package

approved by Parliament in October 2024

weighs heavily on business activity and

investments.

Key measures within the package

that have substantially affected the quality of

business environment include a three-point

increase in corporate income tax (for taxable

income over EUR 5 million) to 24%, the highest

corporate tax of any of the Visegrád countries, and

a new financial transaction tax for companies at

0.4% per bank transfer with a maximum of

EUR 40. Slovakia is the only country in the euro

area to have this tax.

While progress has been made in adopting

laws to improve and harmonise insolvency

procedures, additional efforts could be made

to further prevent insolvency for viable

companies.

In Slovakia’s RRP, a set of laws

(

)

Anti-bureaucratic packages | Improve business environment

(

)

EIB Investment Survey 2024, EIB Investment Survey 2023.

(3) Shortages

(2) Single

Market

16.6

(4) Late payments

from public entities

47.9

from private entities

51.2

Share (%)

EU27

Share of (1) enterprises, (2) average intra-EU exports and

imports in GDP, (3) firms, (4) SMEs.

Sources:

(1) EIB IS, (2) Eurostat, (3) ECFIN BCS, (4) SAFE

survey.

Progress has been made in adopting laws to

alleviate regulatory and administrative

burdens on businesses, but additional efforts

are required to further enhance the business

environment.

Over the last few years, Slovakia

has introduced several measures to make

business easier, including under the RRP. Within

the framework of three anti-bureaucratic

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

insolvency procedures, including early warning

tools, were introduced in 2022 and 2023 to

improve procedures that can be long and costly.

However, according to Eurostat data, the number

of bankruptcies in Slovakia is increasing and was

already higher in the first three quarters of 2024

(86) than for the full year of 2023 (85), with both

higher than the 74 seen in 2022. Many companies

in financial difficulties are still viable and can be

rescued if their problems are identified at an early

stage and if they are assisted in diagnosing their

problems and implementing corrections by

impartial advisors. Slovakia can benefit from

improving its existing early warning mentoring

tools for companies at risk of failure.

in the EU for civil engineers and notaries, the

fourth highest for architects and above the EU

average for lawyers. Reducing regulatory barriers

in professional services can promote market entry

and may foster competition on quality and prices,

as well as productivity increases in the regulated

sectors and across the industries that they serve.

Slovakia could further benefit from the

single market.

Although the country has made

some progress in addressing conformity deficit, it

still has areas for improvement. While the

conformity deficit indicator, measuring the

percentage of all directives transposed incorrectly,

decreased in 2024 (1.1%) compared to 2023

(1.3%), it remains above the EU average in 2024

(0.9%). Slovakia has also performed slightly worse

on the transposition deficit indicator. The

percentage of single market directives not

transposed increased from 0.6% in 2023 to 0.7%

in 2024 though remaining below the 1% threshold

set by the European Council. In addition, in 2024

Slovakia resolved 95.5% of the SOLVIT cases it

handled as lead centre (EU average of 84.9%).

Even though it is above the EU average, this is a

drop from 2023 when it resolved 100% of the

cases. Slovakia has more single market

infringement cases than the EU average (31 vs the

EU average of 24 in 2024), but their duration is

25% shorter than the EU-wide average.

Single market

Slovak businesses demonstrate strong

integration into both the single market and

global value chains.

Slovakia is one of the most

export-oriented economies in the world. It has the

highest integration rate in the EU for goods: the

trade volume of goods represented 55% of its

GDP in 2024 (compared to the EU average of

27%). Traditionally, the EU remains the largest

trading partner for Slovak exporters with a

significant 77.1% of exports directed towards EU

markets (October 2024). Conversely, imports from

EU Member States have also dominated,

accounting for a substantial 63.6% share (

). Yet

while Slovakia’s economy has a substantial

comparative advantage in the export of vehicles,

diversifying the economy away from reliance on

one industrial sector and focusing on innovation

and higher added value will be essential for

building a more resilient economy.

In some sectors, market regulations create

barriers to competition and market entry.

around 300, Slovakia has the fourth highest

reported number of regulated professions in the

EU (

). This presents challenges for individuals

seeking to provide services in Slovakia. The OECD

PMR data (

) suggest that restrictions on

regulated professions in Slovakia are the highest

(

)

Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic,

December 2024.

(

)

European Commission, Regulated professions database,

December 2024

(

)

OECD Product Market Regulation, July 2024

Public procurement

The new public procurement procedures have

the potential to both benefit and hinder

businesses.

While the amendment to the Public

Procurement Act, effective from August 2024,

aims to simplify the processes and reduce

administrative burden, it may also further hamper

transparency

and

competition

public

procurement, making it easier for favouritism to

occur. One of the most significant changes is the

merger of the 'sub-threshold contract' and 'low-

value contract' categories and the increase in the

threshold for contracts without prior publication

from EUR 10 000 to EUR 50 000. This change may

undermine competition, not only domestically but

also in a cross-border context, risking the

inefficient

use

public

money.

The

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

Eurobarometer analysis (

) also suggests that the

perception of corruption in the Slovak business

environment, which was already high, has

undergone one of the highest increases in the EU

over the past year, up 6 percentage points on last

year to 85% of companies stating that corruption

is a widespread problem in Slovakia. Ensuring fair

competition and full transparency in public

procurement will be key to enhancing the

effectiveness and efficiency of government

spending.

(

)

Eurobarometer: Businesses‘ attitudes towards

corruption in

the EU, April 2024

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

Table A4.1:

Making Business Easier: indicators.

Slovakia

POLICY AREA

INDICATOR NAME

2020

Investment climate

Material shortage, firms facing constraints, %

Shortages

Labour shortage, firms facing constraints, %

Vacancy rate, vacant posts as a % of all

available ones (vacant + occupied)

Transport infrastructure as an obstacle to

investment, % of firms reporting it as a major

obstacle

Infrastructure

VHCN coverage, %

FTTP coverage, %

5G coverage, %

8.8

13.8

0.7

23.3

23.0

0.7

31.8

27.0

0.9

14.3

26.0

0.9

10.0

25.3

0.9

10.0

20.2

2.3

2021

2022

2023

2024

EU-27

average

7.2

11.1

66.7

62.3

13.8

7.3

71.3

66.9

55.3

13.0

69.1

64.2

79.0

10.9

13.4

78.8

64.0

89.3

Reduction of regulatory and administrative barriers

Impact of regulation on long-term investment,

Regulatory environment

% firms reporting business regulation as a

21.1

22.4

14.1

major obstacle

Payment gap - corporates B2B, difference in

14.0

12.8

12.1

days between offered and actual payment

Payment gap - public sector, difference in days

16.1

10.2

12.9

between offered and actual payment

Late payments

Share of SMEs

experiencing late

payments, %*

from public or private

entities in the last 6

months

from private entities

in the previous or

current quarter

from public entities in

the previous or

current quarter

19.2

27.3

24.5

15.5

17.9

55.7

13.0

14.6

15.6

15.1

50.8

45.6

55.1

51.2

47.9

14.0

16.6

Integration

Single Market

EU trade integration, % (Average intra-EU

61.6

imports + average intra EU exports)/GDP

EEA Services Trade Restrictiveness Index

Transposition deficit, % of all directives not

transposed

Conformity deficit, % of all directives

transposed incorrectly

SOLVIT, % resolution rate per country

Number of pending infringement proceedings

0.041

1.4

1.1

100

27.0

66.4

0.041

1.4

1.3

100

27.0

73.7

0.041

0.9

1.4

100

29.0

66.1

0.041

0.6

1.3

100

31.0

61.9

0.045

0.7

1.1

95.5

31.0

41.6

0.050

0.8

0.9

84.9

24.4

Compliance

Public procurement

Single bids, % of total contractors**

Competition and

transparency in public

procurement

Direct awards, %**

7.0

*Change in methodology in 2024: reporting late payments from public and private entities separately.

**Data on single bids for 2024 is provisional and subject to revision. Due to missing data, the EU average of direct awards data is

calculated without Romania.

Sources:

(1) ECFIN BCS, (2) Eurostat, (3) EIB IS, (4) Digital Decade Country reports, (5) Intrum Payment Report, (6) SAFE survey,

(7) OECD, (8) up to 2023: Single Market and Competitiveness Scoreboard, 2024: Public procurement data space (PPDS).

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

ANNEX 5: CAPITAL MARKETS, FINANCIAL STABILITY AND ACCESS TO FINANCE

In Slovakia, private investment and public

spending are partially financed by foreign

savings.

While negative, Slovakia’s net

international investment position has continued

to strengthen thanks to strong nominal GDP

growth. Capital markets remain at a very early

stage of development and do not contribute

sufficiently to the financing of Slovak companies.

Retail participation in capital markets remains low,

despite some progress in the level of direct and

indirect household investments. Banks, which

dominate the financial sector, are robust, both in

terms of capital and liquidity. Government bonds

account for a large part of the institutional

investor’s portfolio, but there is a noticeable trend

of diversification through investment funds, in

particular pension funds where amendments to

pension regulations allow for greater investment

diversification. However, the less-developed capital

markets reduce the exit options for private equity

and venture capital investors, further compounding

the lack of funding sources for innovation, a key

element for competitiveness.

Graph A5.1:

Net savings-investment balance

25 % of GDP

-5

-10

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

Private investment, net

Private saving, net

Borrowing from the rest of the world

Lending to the government

Private saving, gross

Source:

AMECO

Availability and use of domestic

savings

The growing net private savings of the

Slovak economy have been supporting

domestic private investment and public

finances.

In the last decade, the private savings

ratio, net of fixed capital consumption, fluctuated

around its ten-year average of 4.3% of GDP,

reaching a maximum of 8% in 2014 The net

private investment ratio, which measures the net

contribution of the private sector to capital

accumulation in the country, exhibited a ten-year

average of 3.6% of GDP and reached a maximum

of 5.8% in 2016. During the same period, lending

to the government showed an average deficit

equivalent to 2.9% of GDP. Thus, the slightly

positive balance between net domestic savings

and net investment, together with the substantial

government deficit, resulted in net borrowing by

Slovakia from foreign economies that averaged

2.3% of GDP, with a peak of 9.7% in 2022. Hence,

Slovak private investment and public spending are

partially financed by foreign savings (see Graph

A5.1).

Slovakia has a negative net international

investment position (NIIP) despite some

improvements throughout the last years.

of Q3 2024, total assets to foreigners reached

90.8% of GDP, while liabilities to foreigners stood

at 140.5% of GDP, resulting in a net international

investment position (NIIP) equivalent to -49.7% of

GDP (see Graph A5.2). This is an improvement

compared to previous three years, owing to the

strong nominal GDP growth. At the same time, the

net stock of foreign direct investment (FDI) stood

at -39.8% of GDP as of Q3 2024. The net portfolio

investments turned positive to 7.3% of GDP as of

Q3 2024. The net stock of other investments

amounted to -27.4% of GDP. The stock of official

foreign reserve assets increased to 10.1% of GDP

at the end of 2024, compared to 3.6% of GDP at

the end of 2017. Thus, the Slovak economy

appears to be well integrated in international

capital flows, notably as a stable recipient of FDI

and other investments.

Graph A5.2:

International investment position

150

% of GDP

100

-50

-100

-150

-200

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

2024-Q3

Foreign Direct Investment, Assets

Other investment, Assets

Foreign Direct Investment, Liabilities

Other investment, Liabilities

Portfolio Investment, Assets

Official reserve assets

Portfolio Investment, Liabilities

NIIP

Source:

ECB

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

Structure of the capital markets and

size of the financial sector

The Slovak economy has a small domestic

capital market.

The market capitalisation of

listed equity reached 1.5% of GDP by the end of

2023 (see Graph A5.3). Non-financial corporations

(NFCs) accounted for only 26.7% of that

capitalisation. The outstanding volume of debt

securities reached 66.7% of GDP at the end of

2023. Government bonds accounted for almost

69% of the total bonds by 2023.

Graph A5.3:

Capital markets and financial

intermediaries in Slovakia

120

100

Non-financial corporations

insurers from other EU Member States) (

). The

assets of Slovak mandatory and voluntary pension

funds equated to 14.4% of GDP at end 2023,

which makes pension funds the second largest

segment of the financial system after the banking

sector (see Graph A.3.3). The Slovak pension fund

sector is composed of around five companies

managing 36 pension funds, and with total assets

of EUR 20.2 billion (

)

(

). The total assets of

investment funds accounted for 7.9% of GDP in

2023 (see section on institutional investors). The

investment fund sector is composed of six

domestic asset management companies and two

foreign asset management companies, managing

a total of 93 domestic open-end funds and one

domestic closed-end fund, with total assets of

EUR 10.9 billion (

% of GDP

MFIs

Resilience of the banking sector

The Slovak banking sector remains resilient,

as it is sufficiently profitable and well

capitalised.

The Slovak banks’ total capital ratio

was 20.3% in Q3-2024 (EU average: 20.1%),

underlining the robustness of the banking sector.

The common equity tier 1 ratio is at 17.7% in Q3-

2024 (EU average: 16.6%). Banking sector

profitability remained healthy despite the

introduction of the bank levy (

), with return on

equity of 10.2% in Q3-2024 (EU average: 10%).

This was largely due to higher net interest income,

net fee and commission income, and a year-on-

year decrease in net provisioning (

). Since 1

August 2023, the National Bank of Slovakia (NBS)

maintained the countercyclical capital buffer

(CCyB) at 1.5% in view of the risks present in the

household and commercial real estate sectors (

The NBS has also introduced several borrower-

(

) NBS, 2024.

Statistical Bulletin, Q3-2024,

p.7.

(

) NBS, 2024.

Statistical Bulletin, Q3-2024,

p.7.

(

) NBS, 2024.

Financial sector analytical data.

(

) NBS, 2024.

Statistical Bulletin, Q3-2024,

p.7.

(

) In 2024, banks will pay 30%

super tax on profits

in the form

of a levy, bringing the effective tax rate to almost 45% in

2024. This bank levy is then set to fall 5% per year to 15%

in 2027, before being eliminated in 2028. See

NBS, Financial

Stability Report, May 2024,

p.36.

(

) NBS, 2024.

Macroprudential Commentary, Dec. 2024,

p.4.

(

) NBS, 2024.

Financial Stability Report, May 2024,

p.8.

Financial corporations

Insurance corporations

Insurance and pension funds

Non-financial corporations

Government

Listed equity

Bonds

Other financials

Assets by sector

Source:

ECB, EIOPA, AMECO.

Even though the financial sector in Slovakia

remains dominated by banks, non-bank

financial intermediaries are growing as well.

The banking sector is the largest segment of the

financial services, accounting for 99.8% of GDP in

2023, which remains however significantly below

the EU average of 253.4%. The foreign-owned

banks accounted for 87.4% of total banking sector

assets in 2023. The banking sector also has a very

high level of concentration with the top five

monetary financial institutions (MFIs) representing

77.1% the sector in 2023 (EU average: 51.1%).

The insurance sector assets accounted for only

4.4% of GDP at end-2023 (EU average: 54.8%).

The insurance market is composed of 26

undertakings, out of which nine are domestic

insurance corporations with total assets EUR 5.8

billion (the rest are branches of insurers or

Investment funds

Pension funds

MFIs

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

based measures to limit potential risks of real

estate developments on the banking sector (

Slovak banks’ aggregate Minimum Requirement

for Own Funds and Eligible Liabilities (MREL) rate

stood at 32.1% of risk weighted assets at end-

2023 (

). As of 1 January 2024, all banks in

Slovakia meet their final MREL targets against an

average MREL binding target (including CBR) of

27.9% TREA (including CBR) (

). Slovakia has not

yet published information on its national bail-in

mechanic in line with EBA guidelines (

The banking sector continues to have a

robust liquidity position.

The structural net

stable funding ratio (NSFR) was 132% in Q3 2024,

slightly declining from 134% in Q2 2024 (

). The

liquidity coverage ratio (LCR) was at 194% in

October 2024 (

The sector’s overall liquidity

position has strengthened since the end of the

first half of 2024, largely because growth in stable

sources of funding, specifically deposits and bond

issuances, has been stronger than loan growth.

This has contributed to the ongoing slow decline in

the ratio of loans to deposit and bond liabilities

(

). The repayment of a large part of the

remaining

targeted

long-term

refinancing

operations (TLTROs) in individual banks at the end

of the Q1 2024 did not threaten the liquidity

position (

The non-performing loans (NPL) ratio in the

Slovak banking sector remains low.

The

overall NPL was at 1.9% in Q3 2024, in line with

the EU average, while the NPL ratio for NFCs was

2.5%, below the EU average (3.5%) and for

households was 1.9%, below the EU average

(2.2%). Similarly, the coverage ratio of NPLs was

61.5% in Q3 2024 (EU average: 42.1%), which

reflects banks’ ability to absorb future losses. The

share of Stage 2 loans in the total portfolio was

9.8% in October 2024 (up from July 2024: 9.3%)

(

) European Commission, 2024,

In-depth review: Slovakia.

(

) EBA

MREL Dashboard - Q4 2023,

p.13.

(

) EBA

MREL Dashboard - Q4 2023,

p.13. CBR (Combined

Buffer Requirement) and TREA (Total Risk Exposure Amount)

(

) EBA,

Guidelines to resolution authorities on the publication of

their approach to implementing the bail-in tool.

(

) NBS, 2024.

Macroprudential Commentary, Dec. 2024,

p.4.

(

) NBS, 2024.

Macroprudential Commentary, Dec. 2024,

p.4.

(

) NBS, 2024.

Macroprudential Commentary, Dec. 2024,

p.4.

(

) NBS, 2024.

Financial Stability Report, May 2024,

p.43.

and the coverage of provisions was 5.3% (down

from July 2024: 5.5%) (

). From a financial

stability perspective, the slight increase in the

share of Stage 2 loans does not represent a

significant risk, since it followed several months of

substantial declines and affected only a few banks

(

). Although NPL ratios are showing signs of

deterioration in the commercial real estate (CRE)

portfolio, their level remains low (

Despite recent substantial changes, the

Slovak Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the

Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) framework

requires additional improvements.

Slovakia

has agreed to amend its main AML/CFT Act by the

end of 2024 to address the Commission’s

concerns. Similarly, following 2022 AMLD IV

Slovakia Final Report Slovakia has compliantly

reported

–

on a 6-month basis - about the

necessary actions to remediate identified

weaknesses. Furthermore, in December 2024

Moneyval had concluded that progress was not

sufficient to justify an upgrade for three of the

Financial

Action

Task

Force

(FATF)

recommendations. In particular, recommendations

n°8 and n°15 are relevant for the Commission: (i)

lacking supervision over Non-profit organizations

(NPOs) and (ii) non-compliance with the definition

of Virtual Assets Services Provider (VASP) activities

provided under FATF, coupled with the absence of

framework for Travel

Rule’s application, and

lacking monitoring regarding targeted financial

sanctions applied to VASPs. In addition, remaining

concerns

regarding

beneficial

ownership

information obligations for trusts and similar legal

arrangements, and fit and proper’s requirements,

in particular, appear to call for additional

clarification.

Resilience of the non-bank financial

intermediaries

Slovakia’s insurance sector is profitable and

solvent.

According to the National Bank of

(

) NBS, 2024.

Macroprudential Commentary, Dec. 2024,

p.4.

(

) NBS, 2024.

Macroprudential Commentary, Dec. 2024,

p.4.

(

) NBS, 2024.

Financial Stability Report, Nov. 2024,

p.44.

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

Slovakia (NBS), the insurance sector’s aggregate

profit for the first half of 2024 reached EUR 149

million (annualised, an 18.4% increase compared

with 2023) (

). Nearly all major profit components

contributed to this growth, except for non-life

business (

). The Solvency Capital Requirement

ratio was at 192% in June 2024, against an EU

average of 258.6% (

According to EIOPA’s 2024

dashboard, there is a considerable insurance

protection gap for floods in Slovakia that should

be monitored (

The Slovak pension (second pillar and third

pillar) fund and investment fund sectors

have seen strong asset growth.

The total

volume of assets increased by EUR 3.7 billion to

more than EUR 30 billion in 2024. In sectoral

terms, growth was the highest in the second

pension pillar (EUR 2.1 billion), followed by the

investment fund sector (EUR 1.1 billion) and the

third pension pillar (EUR 0.5 billion) (

). The growth

trend in the second pension pillar may have been

further augmented by a recent law change

requiring the switching of some savers’ assets

from bond pension funds to index pension funds

(

at the end of 2023, bank finance through loans

constituted 39.5% of all funding sources for

Slovak NFCs, which was more than the EU average

of 27.2%. Listed shares and bonds represented

only 2.6% of funding sources, which was a much

smaller share than the EU average of 23.8%.

Slovak businesses rely mostly on internal

financing, as do their peers in the EU.

According to the 2024 EIB Investment Survey, the

investment needs of 66% of Slovak firms’ re

covered by internal funding, equivalent to the EU

average of 66% (

100

). At the same time, 82% of

Slovak firms believe that their investment

activities over the last three years were sufficient

(close to the EU average of 80%), suggesting that

there is no material financing gap relative to

investment demand (

101

). However, this may not be

the case for firms with no or limited capacity for

internal funding, such as innovative start-up firms

(see further below).

Credit growth has been on a general

downward path for NFCs due to weak

demand and an uncertain economic outlook.

For NFCs, the annual credit growth rate in the

corporate loan portfolio fell to -2.5% in Q3-2024.

Although corporate lending has also slowed in

other EU countries, the trend is far more

pronounced in Slovakia, partly because the country

previously experienced higher cyclicality in

corporate lending (

102

). According to the October

2024 bank lending survey conducted by the NBS,

banks do not expect any notable turnaround in

corporate lending in the near term due to elevated

interest rates (even if rates have fallen to some

extent recently). Lending activity is higher among

smaller firms than larger due to their reliance on a

different internal financing structure (

103

Sources of business funding and the

role of banks

Firms in Slovakia rely more than the EU

average on funding from banks and far less

than the EU average on capital markets.

2023, the overall level of non-financial corporation

(NFC) funding in Slovakia was equivalent to 98.7%

of GDP, which is substantially lower than the EU

average of 230.3% of GDP (see Graph A5.4).

When looking at NFC funding sources in Slovakia,

(

) NBS, 2024.

Financial Stability Report, Nov. 2024,

p.56.

(

) Non-life insurance includes motor insurance, motor third

party liability (MTPL) insurance, property insurance,

reinsurance.

(

) NBS, 2024.

Financial Stability Report, Nov. 2024,

p.57.

(

) EIOPA, 2024.

Dashboard on Insurance Protection for Natural

Catastrophes in a Nutshell.

(

) NBS, 2024.

Financial Stability Report, Nov. 2024,

p.60. The

relative growth rate in both the second and third pension

pillars was 15%, while the rate in the investment fund sector

was a slightly lower 12%.

(

) NBS, 2024.

Financial Stability Report, Nov. 2024,

p. 61.

(

100

) EIB, 2024,

2024 EIB Investment Survey,

p.29.

(

101

) Ibid, p.7.

(

102

) NBS, 2024,

Financial Stability Report-Nov 2024

, p.27.

(

103

) Ibid, p.29.

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

Graph A5.4:

Composition of NFC funding as % of

GDP

250

200

put forward a number of measures to modernise

the capital market infrastructure. Moreover, in

2023 the Slovak Business Association prepared an

analysis on how to promote alternative forms of

raising capital for SMEs (

107

Slovak households have a low savings rate,

with a high share of cash and deposits in

households’ assets, which implies that there

is scope to further increase the level of

direct or indirect retail investments.

Further

encouraging the build-up of universal funded

supplementary pension schemes would positively

contribute to (i) the sustainability and adequacy of

pension benefits; (ii) investment in equity; (iii)

access to finance; (iv) growth; and (v)

innovation. Slovak households have a stronger-

than-average holding of cash and deposits, which

accounts for 52.1% of household assets compared

to the EU average of 32.3%. In 2023, 37.5% of

households’ financial assets were

held in pension

and investment funds or held directly in financial

investment instruments (

108

), but this still falls

short of the EU average of 45.4% (see Graph

A5.5). In Slovakia, direct and intermediated retail

investment by households was 41.9% in 2023 (EU

average: 56.2%) (

109

Recent policy initiatives are aimed at

boosting the level of retail participation.

The

Slovak government is scheduled to launch two

government bond issuances for retail users during

the first half of 2025 (with maturities up to five

years). A wider review of the incentives in place to

promote retail participation in financial markets

may also be warranted.

% of GDP

150

100

Loans

Trade credit and advances

Bonds

Listed shares

Unlisted shares

Other equity

(1) Reference period 2023

Source:

Eurostat

As a result of falling interest rates and

shifting prospects in the housing market,

demand for mortgages has picked up, albeit

modestly for now.

Most banks anticipate a

further increase in mortgage demand in the

coming months (

104

). For households, the annual

credit growth rate for adjusted loans was 3.3% in

Q3-2024.

Capital markets and the participation

of retail investors

Slovakia’s capital markets remain under-

developed.

The main stock exchange in Slovakia

is the Bratislava Stock Exchange (BSSE). The use

of equity by SMEs is very low, as only 2% of SMEs

indicated in the 2023 SAFE survey that equity was

relevant for them, compared to an EU average of

10.1% (

105

In the past, Slovakia prepared a concept

report on the development of capital

markets, but this has not been updated.

April 2014, the Ministry of Finance, together with

the Ministry of Economy, the NBS, the BSSE and

the Central Securities Depository of the Slovak

Republic (CDCP), developed a concept report for

the development of the capital markets (

106

), which

(

104

) NBS, 2024,

Financial Stability Report-Nov 2024

, p.18.

(

105

) European Commission, 2023,

Data and Surveys-SAFE,

Results by country, T27.

(

106

) Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic, 2014,

Concept for

the development of capital market.

(

107

) BSA, 2023, Alternative forms of raising capital for SMEs

through the capital markets.

(

108

) The breakdown: insurance and pension funds 21.8%,

investment funds 10.8%, bonds 4.1%, listed shares 0.7%

(

109

) European Commission, 2024,

Overview of CMU Indicators

–

2024 Update,

Indicator 22.

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

Graph A5.5:

Composition of household financial

assets per capita and as % of GDP

200

150

100

250

per capita (000 EUR) (lhs)

% of GDP GDP (rhs)

Currency and deposits

Investment funds

Listed shares

Other equity

Insurance and pension funds

Bonds

Unlisted shares

HH Debt (liability)

(1) Reference period 2023

Source:

Eurostat

recent pension system reform.

Investment

fund shares accounted for 62.4% of the total

assets held by pension funds as of Q3-2024 (

113

Debt securities are the second largest investment

asset held by pension funds at 29.4%, while bank

currency and deposits account for 6.2% and

equities account for 1.5% of their total assets. The

trend towards reliance on investment funds may

be due to the recent legal change for pillar II,

which supports the switch from bond to index

pension funds (a type of equity fund) on a phased

basis according to the saver’s age, with these

funds offering potentially higher returns and

carrying a corresponding higher level of risk (

114

‘Overall, a better developed pensions sector could

help develop the domestic capital market.

The participation of domestic institutional

investors in providing funding for start-ups

and venture capital investors is low.

A 2024

paper by think tank CEP showed that pension

funds in Croatia, Slovakia, and Slovenia accounted

for only 6% of private equity and venture capital

funds raised annually between 2007-2023, a

figure that falls substantially short of the 19% for

the Baltic states or 20% shares for Nordic Member

States (

115

). In this regard, over time, revised limits

for pension funds to invest in private equity and

venture capital funds could help to facilitate more

funding for Slovak startups.

Recent policy action may facilitate a shift

towards

dynamic

investment

strategies.

These measures include:

On 1 January 2023, a pension system reform

took place that introduced changes to pillar

II of the Slovak pension system.

First-time

workers under the age of 40 were enrolled

automatically (with the option to opt-out after two

years), and the default investment option was

changed from guaranteed-return bond funds to

index funds unless otherwise selected by the new

participant. All participants will gradually move to

guaranteed bond funds from the age of 54 (

116

The role of domestic institutional

investors

The Slovak fund management industry is

quite small, with rising demand in investment

funds.

In Q3-2024, the largest portion of total

assets was allocated to investment funds (39.1%),

followed by stocks (24.4%), bonds (18.2%) and

deposits and loan claims (16.4%) (

110

). This trend

towards investment funds may be a result of a

recent pension system reform.

The Slovak insurance sector has an

investment portfolio that is mostly

composed of bond holdings, and cash and

deposits.

By mid-2024, the insurance sector

portfolio held most assets in government bonds, at

34% (EEA as a whole: 19%) (

111

), followed by

corporate bonds at 26.1%, and cash and deposits

at 5.3%. Investment funds accounted for 23.9% of

insurers’ investment portfolio (of which 52.6% is in

equity funds and 0.1% in private equity

funds) (

112

). Equity accounted for 4.6% of the total

assets of the insurance sector.

The domestic pension fund industry has an

investment profile that relies more on

investment funds than bonds, owing to a

( ) ECB, 2024,

Euro-Area Investment Funds,

Q3-2024.

110

(

113

) ECB, 2024,

Euro-Area Pension Funds, Q3-2024.

(

114

) NBS, 2024,

Financial Stability Report

–

Nov. 2024,

p.61.

(

115

) ECMI, 2024,

Closing the gaping hole in the capital market for

EU start-ups

–

the role of pension funds,

p.2.

(

116

) NBS, 2024,

Financial Stability Report

–

Nov. 2024,

p.61.

(

111

) EIOPA, 2024,

Insurance Statistics.

(

112

) EIOPA, 2024,

Insurance Statistics.

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

Table A5.1:

Financial indicators

2017

Total assets of MFIs (% of GDP)

Common Equity Tier 1 ratio

Total capital adequacy ratio

Overall NPL ratio (% of all loans)

NPL (% loans to NFC-Non financial corporations)

NPL (% loans to HH-Households)

NPL-Non performing loans coverage ratio

Return on Equity

2018

90,8

15,5

17,8

3,2

4,0

3,4

69,8

9,3

20,5

40,5

6,4

10,7

5,3

0,00

28,4

0,03

0,00

3,7

0,2

7,3

19,0

7,1

2019

91,5

15,8

18,0

2,9

3,5

3,0

68,7

8,3

20,3

41,7

4,2

8,5

2,9

0,00

27,5

0,04

0,02

3,9

0,4

7,4

19,6

7,3

2020

99,2

16,8

19,3

2,5

3,4

2,6

68,4

5,3

20,8

44,4

4,3

6,6

2,8

0,00

24,7

0,02

3,9

0,5

7,7

19,9

7,5

91,4

16,2

18,6

3,7

4,9

3,8

65,6

9,3

20,7

38,6

7,8

12,4

5,3

0,00

29,8

0,01

0,00

3,3

0,6

7,5

19,4

7,8

25-27

2021

104,6

16,7

19,4

2,0

2,8

2,2

71,1

8,4

20,0

44,7

6,0

9,1

2,0

0,00

23,6

0,05

0,02

3,3

0,7

9,1

20,8

6,0

2022

103,5

16,8

19,5

1,7

2,3

1,8

69,4

9,4

20,7

45,7

9,8

10,0

1,8

0,00

21,7

0,02

3,7

0,6

9,3

21,0

4,8

2023

99,8

17,3

20,1

1,8

2,5

1,9

60,1

11,5

18,9

42,6

2,8

3,8

1,5

0,00

20,4

0,03

0,01

45,0

4,1

0,7

10,8

21,8

4,4

14,4

2024-Q3

92,8

17,7

20,3

1,9

2,5

1,9

61,5

10,2

17,5

41,0

-2,5

3,3

1,7

4,1

15,5

248,4

16,6

20,1

1,9

3,5

2,2

42,1

10,0

30,0

44,5

0,8

0,7

69,3

0,05

49,6

0,41

0,05

45,5

2,7

4,8

10,0

27,8

54,8

23,4

Banking sector

Non-banks sector

Loans to NFCs (% of GDP)

Loans to HHs (% of GDP)

NFC credit annual % growth

HH credit annual % growth

Stock market capitalisation (% of GDP)

Initial public offerings (% of GDP)

Market funding ratio

Private equity (% of GDP)

Venture capital (% of GDP)

Financial literacy (composite)

Bonds (as % of HH financial assets)

Listed shares (as % of HH financial assets)

Investment funds (as % of HH financial assets)

Insurance/pension funds (as % of HH financial assets)

Total assets of all insurers (% of GDP)

Pension funds assets (% of GDP)

11-17

1-3

4-10

18-24

12,4

13,9

15,1

13,6

Colours indicate performance ranking among 27 EU Member States.

(1) Annualised data.

Credit growth and pension funds EU data refers to the EA average.

Source:

ECB, ESTAT, EIOPA,

DG FISMA CMU Dashboard,

AMECO.

As a way of promoting wider participation in pillar

III of the pension system, the government

gradually lowered the maximum annual

management fees of supplementary pension

companies from 1.20% of the pension fund assets

in 2024 to 1% in 2025.

venture capital (VC) and private equity (PE) activity

in Slovakia, there is a financing gap for early-stage

innovative firms in need of capital.

There are some initiatives in place to

promote start-up funding.

For instance, there is

a crowdfunding platform available to enable some

businesses to access venture and growth capital

but the financial offer is limited. The NBS has

established an innovation hub and a regulatory

sandbox to facilitate innovation in financial

services. However, there is no comprehensive legal

framework to facilitate the creation and growth of

start-ups. Further measures to promote and

facilitate initial public offering (IPO) activity could

also improve the ability of successful start-ups to

scale-up, while offering an attractive exit option to

VC and PE investors.

The depth of available venture and

growth capital

The domestic venture and growth capital

market is not developed enough to meet the

financing needs of innovative firms.

The value

of annual private equity relative to nominal GDP

increased from 0.02% in 2022 to 0.03% in 2023

(EU average: 0.41%) (

117

), which is among the

lowest in the EU. The value of annual venture

capital investment relative to nominal GDP

dropped from 0.02% in 2022 to 0.01% in 2023

(EU average: 0.05%) (

118

). Given the limited

(

117

) European Commission, 2024,

Overview of CMU Indicators

–

2024 Update,

Indicator 11

(

118

) European Commission, 2024,

Overview of CMU Indicators

–

2024 Update,

Indicator 16.

Financing the green transition

The financing needs of Slovakia’s green

transition may pose a challenge.

The Slovak

government has already prioritised the transition

to a greener economy in its recovery and resilience

plan (RRP), and allocates over half of the total RRP

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

funding to support this transition (

119

). The

financial sector can also help the transition to a

green, low-carbon and climate resilient economy

by scaling up capital directed towards low-carbon

activities. In Slovakia, the issuance of bonds with

environmental, social, and governance objectives

as a share of total bond issuance was very low in

2024 at around 3% (Slovakia’s three-year

average: around 5%) and is very low compared to

most of its EU peers (

120

Ministry as well as by universities, business

entities and non-profit organisations.

Financial literacy

Although financial literacy in Slovakia has

improved over the years, more can be done in

terms of depth of knowledge for retail

investors and SMEs.

Financial literacy is crucial

to promote retail-investor participation in capital

markets but also to familiarise SMEs with

alternatives to bank financing. The July 2023

Eurobarometer survey shows that only 20% of

Slovaks have a high level of financial literacy, 63%

a medium level, and the remaining 17% a low

level, compared to the EU average of 18% for high

literacy, 64% for medium, and 18% for low (

121

This leads to an overall financial literacy indicator

(the average of the financial knowledge and

financial behaviour indicators) of 45% vs an EU

average score of 45.5% (

122

In Slovakia, recent initiatives have sought to

improve financial literacy.

The Ministry of

Education prepared the national financial literacy

standard (NSFL), which entered into force on 1

September 2017. The NSFL focuses on topics such

as financial responsibility, money protection, credit

and debt, savings and investment, risk

management and insurance, etc. In addition to the

NSFL, many other activities aimed at increasing

financial literacy in Slovakia are now being

developed by the NBS (

123

) alongside the Finance

(

119

) European Commission, 2024,

RRP Scoreboard.

(

120

) AFME, 2024,

CMU Key Performance Indicators,

p.23.

(

121

) European Commission, 2023,

Flash Eurobarometer Survey -

Monitoring the level of financial literacy in the EU - July

2023,

p.17.

(

122

) European Commission, 2024,

Overview of CMU Indicators

–

2024 Update,

Indicator 27.

(

123

) NBS, 2019,

The NBS

financial literacy support strategy.

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

ANNEX 6: EFFECTIVE INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK

Slovakia’s institutional framework influences

its competitiveness.

Slovakia faces many

challenges

with

regulatory

governance,

effectiveness and strategic potential of

investments, and absorption of EU funds.

Effectiveness of justice and the anti-corruption

framework have not increased. Slovakia would

benefit from reducing administrative burdens,

improving the quality and predictability of the

legislative and regulatory environment, increasing

the professionalism of the civil service and making

it more attractive as an employer. A reform of the

local governance structure may also be warranted

to address structural challenges in implementing

viable investment projects and absorbing EU

funds.

30%) (

124

). Overall, the perceived quality of

government remains below the EU average and

has deteriorated slightly (

125

). The structural

weakness of local government remains. 84% of

municipalities have less than 2000 inhabitants

and only 2% have more than 20,000 inhabitants.

The high fragmentation and limited capacity of

municipalities lead to regional disparities in

delivery of services and management of

investments (

126

). The underfunding of local

government was aggravated in recent years by the

transfer of new responsibilities from the central

level. The government plans to set up centres for

shared services in municipalities within the least

developed regions. Efforts to encourage inter-

municipal cooperation however face barriers (

127

Graph A6.2:

Indicators of Regulatory Policy and

Governance (iREG)

4.0

3.5

Public perceptions

Graph A6.1:

Trust in justice, regional / local

authorities and in government

0.8

0.7

0.6

0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

Autumn

Spring

Autumn

Summer

Autumn

Winter

Spring

Winter

Spring

3.0

2.5

2.0

1.5

1.0

0.5

0.0

Primary laws Subordinate Primary laws Subordinate Primary laws Subordinate

regulations

SK_Stakeholder

engagement

SK_Regulatory Impact

Assessment

SK_Ex-post evaluation of

legislation

Methodology

Transparency

2021

Systematic adoption

Oversight and quality control

EU-27

2014 2015

2016

2017

2018

2019 2020 2022

2023

2024

Justice, legal system EU27

Justice, legal system SK

Regional or local public authorities EU27

Regional or local public authorities SK

Government EU27

Government SK

Source:

OECD (2025), Regulatory Policy Outlook 2025 and

Better Regulation across the European Union 2025

(forthcoming).

(1) EU-27 from 2019; EU-28 before

Source:

Standard Eurobarometer surveys

Trust in public institutions is below the EU

average.

Trust in local authorities has seen a

significant increase and ranks higher than central

government and the judiciary (GraphA6.1). In

Slovakia, 60% of citizens believe that reducing

bureaucracy would enhance trust in public

administration (compared to the EU's 52%), 42%

prefer easier interactions with the administration

(compared to the EU's 28%), and 37% desire

better-skilled civil servants (compared to the EU's

(

124

)

Understanding Europeans’ views on reform needs

- April

2023 - - Eurobarometer survey,

Country Fact Sheet.

(

125

)

Inforegio - European Quality of Government Index

(

126

)

Švikruha M, Bardovič J. Malé Obce A Problém Poskytovania

Vybran�½ch Služieb: Prípad Slovenska. Central European

Papers. 2024;12(1):39-62. Doi: 10.25142/Cep.2024.003.

(

127

)

J. Nemec, Nikoleta Jakuš Muthová, Beáta Mikušová

Meričková, 2023, Barriers to inter-municipal

cooperation

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

Table A6.1:

Slovakia. Selected indicators on administrative burden reduction and simplification

Ex ante impact assessment of legislation

When developing new legislation, regulators are

required to …

Ex post evaluation of legislation

Is required to consider the consistency of regulations

and address areas of duplication.

Is required to contain an assessment of administrative

burdens.

Is required to contain an assessment of substantive

compliance costs.

Compares the impact of the existing regulation to

alternative options.

Periodic ex post evaluation of existing regulations is

mandatory.

Government uses stock-flow linkage rules when

introducing new regulations (e.g., one-in one-out).

A standing body has published an in-depth review of

specific regulatory areas in the last 3 years.

In the last 5 years, public stocktakes have invited

businesses and citizens to assess the effectiveness,

efficiency, and burdens of legislation.

Identify and assess the impacts of the baseline or

‘do nothing’ option.

Identify and assess the impacts of alternative non-

regulatory options.

Quantify administrative burdens of new

regulations.

Quantify substantial costs of compliance of new

regulations.

Assess macroeconomic costs of new regulations.

Assess the level of compliance.

Identify and assess potential enforcement

mechanisms.

Yes / For all primary laws

For major primary laws

For some primary laws

No / Never

(1) This table presents a subset of iREG indicators focusing on regulatory costs. The indicators refer to primary legislation.

Source:

OECD (2025), Regulatory Policy Outlook 2025 [https://doi.org/10.1787/56b60e39-en] and Better Regulation across the

European Union 2025 (forthcoming)

Quality of legislation and regulatory

simplification

Despite a generally well-defined formal

framework for regulatory governance, its

implementation remains ineffective.

Impact

assessments are conducted for draft primary and

secondary legislation, with a focus on

administrative burdens. Despite of efforts to

strengthen analytical capacity, ministries still

struggle to assess wider social and economic

impacts (

128

). Also, the quality of impact

assessments is often limited, and enforcement is

ineffective. In 2023, more than half of the impact

assessments of draft laws presented to the

legislative council of the government received a

negative opinion (

129

). However, as these opinions

are not binding, the effectiveness of the rules is

marginal. Trainings on better regulation rules have

been initiated. These cover topics as gold-plating

and the “one in, two out” principle and could help

improve the quality of impact assessments (

130

). At

the same time, the regulatory governance

procedures are not obligatory for the parliament,

which affects the quality of legislation. In 2023,

53% of the legislative initiatives were tabled by

members of the parliament (

131

). The lack of

effective rules and their enforcement also has a

strong impact on the business environment (Annex

4).

The swift adoption of legislation in recent

years has negatively impacted its quality.

There is a tendency to divert from the standard

procedure and adopt laws without proper impact

assessment or parliamentary oversight. As a

result, public consultations and stakeholder

involvement remained limited (

132

(

130

)

Opatrenie Ex post | Podnikateľské prostredie | MHSR

(

131

) Staronova K, Lacková N, data] Sloboda M. Post-crisis

Emergency Legislation Consolidation: Regulatory Quality

Principles for Good Times Only?

European Journal of Risk

Regulation.

2024;15(3):637-655. doi:10.1017/err.2023.69

(

132

) See the

2024 country-specific chapter for Slovakia of the

Rule of Law Report.

(

128

) OECD Regulatory Policy Outlook 2025.

(

129

)

V�½ročná Správa Stálej Pracovnej Komisie Legislatívnej Rady

Vlády Sr Na Posudzovanie Vybran�½ch Vplyvov Za Rok 2023

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

Social dialogue

Although social dialogue in Slovakia

experienced challenges during the Covid-19

pandemic, it returned to its usual practice

afterwards.

Social dialogue in Slovakia is

institutionally anchored in bodies like the tripartite

Economic and Social Council, which comprises

representatives from the government, employers'

organisations, and trade unions. As an advisory

body to the government, the Council discusses

legislative proposals and provides a platform for

dialogue on various issues related labour market

and employment regulations, minimum wages, or

social protection. The Council adopts only non-

legally binding recommendations. The social

partners play a crucial role in forecasting skills for

the labour market (through the Alliance of Sectoral

Councils) (

133

The government has signed up to supporting

social dialogue and collective bargaining,

especially its

quality and

employee

participation in decision-making.

In August

2024, the government and the social partners

signed a declaration on the development of social

dialogue in Slovakia. Nevertheless, challenges

remain especially in the private sector. Especially

in small businesses, the absence of union

organisation persists. With the use of targeted

support from ESF+, the Ministry of Labour

launched a national project in June 2023 aimed at

supporting social dialogue. The project´s budget is

EUR 23 million, channelled through the Alliance of

Sectoral Councils to the social partners.

take longer than the EU average to award

procurement contracts (122 days from the

deadline to submit offers in Slovakia vs 99 days in

the EU-27). This contributes to uncertainty for

companies. Moreover, the B-READY indicators (

134

)

show great potential for cutting the time needed

to obtain a building permit and an environmental

licence, as well as the time needed to draft, file

and pay and to complete a generic tax audit.

According to a report monitoring implementation

of the Commission Recommendation and Guidance

on faster permit-granting procedures for

renewable energy and related infrastructure

projects (

135

), there is clearly scope for further

aligning national practices in Slovakia with the

guidance, to support faster and shorter procedures

for the licensing of renewable energy projects.

Lastly, while the OECD product market regulation

indicator shows that while Slovakia´s licensing

system is less burdensome than the EU average,

there is still some room for adopting best

practices. For example, while the government

keeps an up-to-date online inventory of all the

permits and licences required/issued to businesses

by public bodies, there is no requirement for the

government to regularly review it and assess

whether such licences and permits are still

required or should be withdrawn (see also Annex

4).

Digital public services

Slovakia is approaching the EU average in

providing digital public services to citizens

and businesses

(table A6.2). On digital public

services for citizens, Slovakia scores 72/100,

against the EU average of 79/100. For availability

of digital public services for businesses, Slovakia

scores 79/100 (against an EU average of 85/100).

To advance in this area, Slovakia is working on

digitalising its company register (

136

). Slovakia has

(

134

) World Bank. 2024. Business Ready 2024. Washington, DC:

World Bank. doi:10.1596/978-1-4648-2021-2.

(

135

) European Commission: Directorate-General for

Energy,

Monitoring the implementation of the Commission

recommendation and guidance on speeding up permit-

granting procedures for renewable energy and related

infrastructure projects

–

Final report,

Publications Office of

the European Union, 2025,

link.

(

136

)

National reform programme 2024

Efficiency of selected administrative

procedures

Selected indicators point to Slovakia’s

public

administration taking longer than average to

complete procedures.

For example, public buyers

(

133

) For an analysis of the involvement of

Slovakia’s

social

partners at national level in the European Semester and the

Recovery and Resilience Facility, see Eurofound (2025),

National-level social governance of the European Semester

and the Recovery and Resilience Facility.

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

Table A6.2:

Digital Decade targets monitored through the Digital Economy and Society Index

Slovakia

2022

Digitalisation of public services

Digital public services for citizens

Score (0 to 100)

EU-27

2024

2023

2022

2024

2023

Digital Decade

target by 2030

EU-27

100

2030

100

2030

100

2030

2021

Digital public services for businesses

Score (0 to 100)

2021

2022

2023

Access to e-health records

Score (0 to 100)

2021

2022

2023

Source:

State of the Digital Decade report 2024d

made considerable progress as regards access to

electronic health records (from 42% in 2022 to

66% in 2023) but is still considerably below the

EU average (79%).

Slovakia is advancing towards seamless,

automated exchange of authentic documents

and data across the EU.

It has developed the

necessary infrastructure and is beginning the

process of connecting the first authorities to the

Once-Only Technical System (

137

). As part of its

RRP, Slovakia is working to consolidate access to

services via the central government portals and to

increase the online delivery of life events. Specific

programmes have been put in place increase

digital skills of elderly and marginalised groups.

The share of e-government users is relatively

high in Slovakia (80.5%), above the EU

average of 75%.

Yet the use of eID to access

public services (8%) remained considerably lower

than the EU average (36.1%). Only 2% of eID

users are estimated to have accessed their

electronic health records, pointing to a need for

increased awareness about the service (

138

Slovakia has also not yet set up and notified eID

schemes for legal persons under the eIDAS

Regulation (

139

). This means that Slovak businesses

cannot authenticate themselves to access public

services provided by other Member States,

including those enabled by the Once-Only

Technical System, part of the EU Single Digital

Gateway (

140

Civil service

Some major challenges are affecting the

quality of the civil service in Slovakia.

The

share civil servants with higher education (52.8%)

is around that of the EU-27 (52.8%), as is the

participation rate of civil servants in adult learning

(20.6% in Slovakia and 18.9% in EU-27) (

141

). The

attractiveness of the public administration has

declined (

142

) and the proportion of staff below the

age of 49 years is decreasing. The decentralised

human resources management creates disparities

remuneration

and

appraisal

across

143

administrations ( ). The lack of dedicated training

policy and clear responsibility for assessing skills

gaps creates additional barriers to improving

productivity of civil servants.

(

140

) European Commission,

Once-Only Technical System

Acceleratormeter

(

141

) Eurostat. 2025.

European Union Labour Force Survey.

(

142

) JAHODA, Robert et al. The Low Demand for Public

Administration Programs in the Czech Republic and Slovakia:

What May be Behind it?. Transylvanian Review of

Administrative Sciences, [S.l.], p. 99-117, dec. 2022. ISSN

1842-2845.

<https://rtsa.ro/tras/index.php/tras/article/view/715>.

(

143

)

Kahancová, M., & Staroňová, K. (2023).

Arms-length

influence: Public sector wage setting and export-led

economic growth in Czechia and Slovakia.

European Journal

of Industrial Relations, 30(1),

97-

119.

https://doi.org/10.1177/09596801231215901

(

137

) European Commission,

The Once Only Principle System: A

breakthrough for the EU’s Digital Single Market

(

138

) European Commission.

Digital Decade 2024: Country reports

(

139

) European Commission,

eIDAS Dashboard.

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

Previous reforms promoting merit-based

recruitment of civil servants may be

significantly weakened.

The amendments to the

Civil Service Act in 2021 relaxed the rules for

removal of senior civil servants. This was followed

by the replacement of staff at some management

positions. In 2024, the Civil Service Council, which

monitored civil service policy in Slovakia was

abolished (

144

). Its control functions were

transferred to a newly established civil service

control and monitoring department in the

government office. The

Council‘s role in

coordinating the human resources management,

promoting integrity, depoliticisation and motivation

of civil servants will not be transferred to another

body.

prosecution and police. Decentralisations of

investigations and turnover of employees

responsible for these had a largely negative

impact on the adequate follow up of ongoing

cases. There are thus newly arisen, as well as

persistent

serious

concerns

about

the

effectiveness of the fight against corruption. These

include the impact on the degree of specialisation

and capacity that was built over the past years,

funded by the RRF (e.g. ensuring the training of

police officers in the area of anti-corruption, as

well as the discretionary power of the Prosecutor-

General in particular to annul any final decision by

lower-ranking prosecutors or the police in the

investigations of high-level corruption cases.

Foreign bribery remains an area with low

enforcement levels, with one case being reported

(

149

Public procurement remains an area at high

risk of corruption in Slovakia.

45% of

companies (EU average 27%) think that corruption

has prevented them from winning a public tender

or a public procurement contract in practice in the

last three years (

150

). Amendments to the Public

Procurement Act aim to simplify public

procurement rules. However, stakeholders report

that the amendments may not address the actual

challenges, including systemic misuse of tenders

and levels of professional expertise, which affect

the quality of public tenders. (

151

)

The

influence of businesses on Slovakia’s

legislative process remains untransparent,

with lobbying being unregulated.

Slovakia has

reiterated but postponed its commitment to

adopting lobbying rules. Amendments tabled in

2024 would regulate exclusively lobbying by non-

governmental organisations and not corporate

lobbying, and risk creating an unequal level playing

field.

Integrity

Although corruption is considered widespread

and a problem when doing business, Slovakia

relaxed its laws punishing corruption and

dissolved specialised anti-corruption entities.

In Slovakia, 85% of companies consider that

corruption is widespread (EU average 64%) and

63% consider that corruption is a problem when

doing business (EU average 36%) (

145

). Moreover,

only 9% of companies believe that people and

businesses caught for bribing a senior official are

appropriately punished (EU average 31%) (

146

). The

criminal law reform raises serious concerns

regarding the robustness of Slovakia’s legislative

framework against corruption, reducing sanction

levels for corruption crimes and shortening the

period in which they can be brought to justice. As a

result of amendments to the Criminal Codes,

several high-level corruption cases have been

dropped in 2024 (

147

). Besides, throughout 2024,

Slovakia dissolved the autonomous Special

Prosecution Office, the specialised police National

Crime Agency (NAKA) and the Department of

Corruption Prevention of the Government Office in

2024 (

148

) and subsequently reorganised both

(

144

) Act No 201/2024 Coll., amending Act No 575/2001 Coll.

(

145

) Flash Eurobarometer 543 on businesses’

attitudes towards

corruption in the EU (2024).

(

146

) Ibid.

(

147

) See the 2024 country-specific chapter for Slovakia of the

Rule of Law Report, pp. 14 et seq.

(

148

) Ibid., pp. 10 et seq.

(

149

) Ibid., p. 18.

(

150

) Flash Eurobarometer 543 on businesses’

attitudes towards

corruption in the EU (2024).

(

151

) See the 2024 country-specific chapter for Slovakia of the

Rule of Law Report, pp. 27-28.

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

Justice

The justice system continues to face

challenges as regards its efficiency and

judicial independence.

The estimated time for

resolving civil and commercial cases at first

instance increased (from 168 days in 2022 to 173

days in 2023). As regards administrative cases,

the estimated time at first instance increased

significantly from 648 days in 2022 to 1 040 days

in 2023 and is one of the highest in the EU. Also,

the clearance rate for resolving administrative

cases dropped from 93% in 2022 to 74% in 2023.

The judicial map was reorganised in 2023, and a

dedicated administrative court system was

established. The quality of the justice system is

good overall. The level of digitalisation of the

justice system is advanced but work on developing

a new digital court management system has faced

setbacks. Some digitalisation efforts are being

supported by the recovery and resilience plan.

Concerns regarding judicial independence persist.

Safeguards in the dismissal procedure of the non-

peer elected members of the Judicial Council are

missing, while the Government, the Parliament and

the President dismissed their nominees ahead of

the end of their term. The lack of safeguards

exposes judges to prosecution for the content of

their decisions (

152

(

152

) For more detailed analysis of the performance of the justice

system in Slovakia, see the upcoming 2025 EU Justice

Scoreboard and 2024 Rule of Law Report.

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

SUSTAINABILITY

ANNEX 7: CLEAN INDUSTRY AND CLIMATE MITIGATION

Slovakia

faces

significant

challenges

regarding its clean industry transition and

climate

mitigation.

Clean

technology

manufacturing has potential to strengthen

industrial diversity in Slovakia. Its automotive

sector is currently undergoing a profound

transformation, and energy-intensive industries

have been challenged by high energy prices and

global competition. Slovak manufacturing is

heavily reliant on importing critical raw materials.

Mixed municipal waste is still allowed to be

landfilled without pre-treatment. Slovakia still has

not remediated numerous contaminated waste

sites, and its industry continues releasing large

amounts of air and water pollutants.

production or recovery of related critical raw

materials. In March 2024, the government

included the production of batteries, solar panels,

wind turbines, heat pumps, electrolysers and

equipment for carbon capture and storage among

its strategic sectors (

154

). Businesses from those

strategic areas will thus be able to receive

increased state incentives. After several large

investors have in recent years announced

significant investment in producing heat pumps,

photovoltaic panels (

155

) could also be developed

and produced in Slovakia. Based on the action plan

for

the

2023-2026

National

Hydrogen

156

Strategy ( ), the government also supports the

development of hydrogen infrastructure and

technologies in Slovakia. Investment in these new

industrial segments and in strategic goods could

support the transition towards a net zero economy

and further strengthen industrial diversity in

Slovakia.

Public and private investment in energy

research and innovation is very low in

Slovakia, with an R&D intensity of just below

1% in 2022.

This limits the country’s ability to

develop and deploy advanced clean technologies.

The lack of private sector investment in R&D

combined with a lack of cooperation between

industry and academia, and a shortage of startups

and innovative ventures, is also reported to be

hindering Slovakia’s battery industry.

Transforming the car industry

Slovakia’s automotive industry –

its largest

industry - is facing strong competition and

significant

challenges

regarding

the

transition

electric

vehicles.

Car

manufacturing employs more than 260 000

people and produces up to 12% of GDP. It

accounted for 42% of exports and almost half of

industrial sales (46.5%) in 2023. The sector is

undergoing a profound transformation, driven by

digitalisation, automation and the shift towards

(

154

) Ministry of Industry:

Detail materiálu | Portal OV,

March

2024.

(

155

) Minister of Industry signed a

Memorandum of understanding

with the innovative japanese producer of photovoltaic

panels, February 2024.

(

156

)

Action plan of the National Hydrogen Strategy for 2023-

2026

Strategic autonomy and technology

for the green transition

Net zero industry

Slovakia’s manufacturing capacity across net

zero technologies remains modest.(

153

)

Slovakia’s manufacturing capacity amounts to

between 5 and 5.25 GWh/y (2% of EU capacity)

for battery and storage technologies and between

50 and 150 MW/y (0-1% of EU capacity) for solar

PV modules. Additionally, there are at least 12

facilities in Slovakia producing heat pumps.

Slovakia could benefit from manufacturing

clean technologies, which is a newly

emerging and promising segment of its

domestic industry, helping to diversify the

industrial sectors of the economy.

In Slovakia,

an EUR 1 billion state aid scheme under the

Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework was

approved by the European Commission in

December 2023 to support investment projects in

strategic industrial sectors for the transition to a

net-zero economy. These include the production of

batteries, solar panels, wind turbines, heat pumps,

electrolysers, carbon capture equipment, key

components for these technologies and the

(

153

) European Commission: Directorate-General for Energy, The

net-zero manufacturing industry landscape across the

Member States 2025,

https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2833/2181110

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

electric vehicles and away from internal

combustion

engines.

Nevertheless,

Slovak

carmakers remain cautiously optimistic about their

near-term outlook. This resilience is largely due to

the country's highly modern manufacturing

facilities, lower labour costs that provide a

competitive edge and the fact that all Slovak

automotive plants are currently working on electric

car models whose production is relatively stable. In

addition, the Slovak automotive industry will be

strengthened by the significant investment

announced in 2024, including in a gigafactory for

batteries, which will facilitate the country’s shift to

electric models and boost the entire automotive

sector in Slovakia. Based on calculations (

157

), the

sector received 96% of the investment aid in 2024

and 84% in 2023. However, supporting the

diversification of the Slovak economy could end its

dependence on one dominant industry and thus

reduce its vulnerability to supply-chain disruptions

and global uncertainty.

To address barriers and challenges facing

the automotive industry, further efforts

could be made, including creating a space for

discussion and cooperation with the industry.

According to industry representatives, there is a

lack of cooperation between government and

industry, resulting in the adoption of crucial

legislative proposals affecting the industry without

adequate consultation with the key industrial

stakeholders. The competitive advantage of

production in Slovakia is being reduced by

consolidation measures that will increase costs

and taxes for companies (see Annex 4: Making

Business Easier). Further impediments for the

industry to grow and remain competitive in the

long term include the lack of waste processing

capacities in Slovakia, the obstacles to meeting the

EU’s “green goals”, the shortage of skilled workers

but also the insufficient attractiveness of STEM

studies (see Annex 12) and an extensive brain

drain. In addition, Slovakia needs to step up its

support for zero-emission vehicles on its own

roads. In 2023, battery electric vehicles made up

just 2.9 percent of new car registrations, placing

Slovakia in last place among EU countries.

Despite the adoption of the Action plan for the

development of e-vehicles in Slovakia in 2023 and

its revision later in 2024, the country experienced

(

157

) Institute for Strategies and Analyses (ISA):

Ekonomick�½

prehľad 41,

October 2024.

the third sharpest decline in the battery-electric

vehicles market share from July to October

2024(

158

). Many of the proposed measures

including subsidies for the purchase of electric

cars, exemption of electric cars from highway fees

and tolls or support for charging infrastructure

have either been delayed or remained

unimplemented.

Decreasing inefficiencies in rail transport

Despite important steps taken under the RRP,

significant efforts are still needed to prepare

and implement further investments in

railway transport.

In particular, a more long-

term funding approach and strategy for financing

would be important to optimise governance and

strategic investments, to be focused on

electrification, digitalisation, reconstruction, and

optimisation of the rail network and its better

interconnection and interoperability with the trans-

European network for transport. A centralised

national fund, in addition to improvement of the

infrastructure project lifecycle, which exist in

neighbouring Member States, is currently missing

in Slovakia. This would allow for a more effective

medium to long-term planning of transport

infrastructure works, and better use of national

and European streams of funding that finance

most of these projects in Slovakia. This could be

accompanied by a reform of national railway

infrastructure management, to accelerate and

streamline investments in modernising rail

physical and digital infrastructure.

Critical raw materials

Slovak manufacturing depends heavily on

imports of critical raw materials (CRMs) that

are needed for the green and digital

transitions.

While Slovakia produces several such

materials(

159

), such as silicon metal, coking coal,

and aluminium, it is still heavily reliant on imports

of CRMs for the transitions. In 2023, the main CRM

imported by Slovakia from non-EU countries, in

(

158

) DG GROW "CET Quarterly Bulletin" on industrial performance,

based on ACEA (European

Automobile Manufacturers’

Association), December 2024.

(

159

) EC, Raw material Information System, country profile

Slovakia.

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

terms of trade values, was coking coal from the

USA, Australia, and Canada.

Slovakia’s Import

concentration Index(

160

) was the highest among

the EU countries in 2023, which creates significant

challenges regarding sustainability and resilience,

such as supply chain risks, environmental

degradation and social concerns. With 43.3% of

material inputs coming from imports in 2023 (EU

average: 22%), Slovakia is particularly vulnerable

to supply chain disruptions. Moreover, the circular

use of material, which is key to reducing

dependence on raw materials imports, remains

well below the EU average, even though it has

increased since 2018. Improvements are therefore

needed towards more sustainable material

management practices in Slovakia.

Slovakia could play an important role in

addressing

strategic

dependencies

developing value chains in critical raw

materials.

Slovakia has a long-standing mining

and metallurgy tradition and good mineral

potential. It is the most significant EU producer of

magnesite and magnesium compounds. However,

the Slovak mining industry faces significant

challenges due to high energy prices, the Russian

invasion of Ukraine and efforts to achieve climate

neutrality. In October 2024, production in the

mining industry dropped by a fifth (y-o-y)(

161

). As a

result, the industry warns that it may be forced to

shut down factories or relocate production to

countries outside the EU. Slovakia’s 2021-2025

waste management programme identified

CRM-relevant areas requiring further investment

and development. These include electrical

equipment, batteries and accumulators and

vehicles, for which the principles of extended

producer responsibility apply. Investment in new

processing capacity is needed for end-of-life

vehicles, while for construction and demolition

waste, batteries and waste from electrical and

electronic equipment, the focus should be on

modernising existing facilities and improving

recycling rates. Slovakia has initiated or is

considering measures to increase the use of

secondary CRMs, such as mandatory green public

procurement, increasing the content of recycled

materials in products and setting standards for the

(

160

) The import concentration measures how much a country

relies on a limited number of sources for a basket of critical

raw materials. Source: COMEXT.

(

161

) Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic:

Priemyselná

produkcia,

October 2024.

quality of recycled materials from waste. Some of

the CRMs or CRM-rich products are addressed in

Slovakia’s Act No. 79/2015 on waste.

Slovakia scores well in recycling e-waste and

end-of-life vehicles.

It is a frontrunner as

regards the recycling rate for e-waste, a key

source of critical raw materials, with 92.5% in

2021 (the EU average was 81.6%). The reuse and

recycling rate for end-of-life vehicles in Slovakia is

above the EU average (95.9% vs. 89.1% in 2022).

Climate mitigation

Industry decarbonisation

Manufacturing is a significant source of

greenhouse gas emissions in Slovakia; the

country ranks fourth in emissions intensity in

the EU.

At 35%, the share of manufacturing in

Slovakia’s total greenhouse gas emissions is the

highest in the EU (

162

). Slovakian manufacturing

emits 740 g of CO2eq of greenhouse gases per

euro of gross value added, 2.7 times the EU

overall (270

g/€) and the third highest in the EU.

Since 2017, the greenhouse gas emissions

intensity of manufacturing in Slovakia improved by

20%, similar to the EU average. 56% of

manufacturing emissions in Slovakia relate to

energy use, with 44% associated with industry

processes and product use. In the EU overall, these

shares are the inverse.

The greenhouse emissions intensity of

manufacturing in Slovakia improved (albeit

less than in the EU overall).

One driver appears

to have been rising energy efficiency. Between

2017 and 2022, the energy- and process and

product use-related emissions intensities in

Slovakian manufacturing declined by 18% and

(

162

)

In 2023. Manufacturing includes all divisions of the “C”

section of the NACE Rev. 2 statistical classification of

economic activities. In the remainder of this section, unless

indicated otherwise, data on manufacturing refer to the

divisions of the NACE section C excluding division C19

(manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products), and

the year 2022. The source of all data in this section is

Eurostat; data following the UNFCCC Common Reporting

Framework (CRF) are from the European Environment Agency

(EEA), republished by Eurostat.

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

19% respectively (

163

). For energy use, this was

slightly above the EU average (16%); for industry

process and product use-related emissions, EU-

wide reductions were higher, at 23%. In the same

period, the share of electricity and renewables in

manufacturing’s final energy consumption fell by

3 percentage points, to 38%

–

the fifth lowest in

the EU. In the same time period, the energy

intensity of manufacturing has improved by 10%,

with the final energy consumption of

manufacturing falling from 2.5 GWh per euro of

GVA to 2.3 GWh/€. In the EU overall, improvements

in energy efficiency in those years amounted to

15%, resulting in 1.1 GWh/€ in 2022.

Graph A7.1:

GHG emission intensity of manu-

facturing and energy-intensive sectors, 2022

manufacturing gross value added (2022). As an

important component of production costs in the

above industries and others, in recent years

Slovakia’s electricity prices for large consumers

increased to become the fourth highest in the EU

by 2023; gas prices too have risen to among the

highest in the EU (

165

). In September 2024, the

steel mill U.S. Steel Košice announced it had

prepared a decarbonisation plan, resulting in a

70% reduction in emissions with unchanged

production volume, but it may only be launched

once the ongoing ownership changes are clarified.

Reduction of emissions in the effort sharing

sectors

To attain its 2030 effort sharing target,

Slovakia needs to swiftly implement the

planned climate mitigation measures (

166

2023, GHG emissions from Slovakia’s effort

sharing sectors are expected to have been 14.3%

below those of 2005. By 2030, current policies are

projected to reduce them by 19.9% relative to

2005 levels; additional policies considered by

Slovakia are projected to add reductions of

11.6 percentage points. Consequently, Slovakia is

projected to overachieve its effort sharing target

of 22.7% reductions by 8.8 percentage points (

167

KG CO

eq / €

C-C19

C17

Slovakia

C20

EU-27

C23

C24

Source:

Eurostat.

The greenhouse gas emissions intensity of

Slovakia’s basic metals sector is the fourth

highest in the EU,

emitting 6.5 kg of CO2eq per

€ of GVA: Slovakia’s chemical industry is the sixth

most emissions intensive among EU Member

States, with 2.7

kg CO2eq/€.

Energy-intensive

industries (

164

)

account for 13% of Slovakia’s

(

163

) For the GHG emissions intensity of GVA related to energy use

and industrial processes and product use respectively, GHG

emissions are from inventory data in line with the UNFCCC

Common Reporting Format (CRF), notably referring to the

source sectors CRF1.A.2

–

fuel combustion in manufacturing

industries and construction and CRF2

–

industrial processes

and product use. The CRF1.A.2 data broadly correspond to

the NACE C and E sectors, excluding C-19. GVA data (in the

denominator for both intensities) are aligned with this

sectoral coverage. Therefore, they are not fully consistent

with the data referred to in other part of this section.

(

164

) Notably, the manufacture of paper and paper products

(NACE division C17), of chemicals and chemical products

(C20), “other” non-metallic

mineral products (C23; this

division includes manufacturing activities related to a single

substance of mineral origin, such as glass, ceramic products,

tiles, and cement and plaster), and basic metals (C24). To

date, these industries are energy-intensive

–

i.e. consuming

much energy both on site and/or in the form of purchased

electricity

–

and greenhouse gas emissions intensive, in

various combinations.

(

165

) For a detailed analysis of energy prices, see Annex 8 on the

affordable energy transition.

(

166

)

The national greenhouse gas emission reduction target is set

out in Regulation (EU) 2023/857 (the Effort Sharing

Regulation). It applies jointly to buildings (heating and

cooling); road transport, agriculture; waste; and small industry

(known as the effort sharing sectors).

(

167

) The effort sharing emissions for 2023 are based on

approximated inventory data. The final data will be

established in 2027 after a comprehensive review.

Projections on the impact

of current policies (“with existing

measures”, WEM) and additional policies (“with additional

measures”, WAM), as per Slovakia’s final updated NECP.

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

Graph A7.2:

Greenhouse gas emissions in the

effort sharing sectors, 2005 and 2023

MtCO2e

Slovakia’s recovery and resilience plan includes

one circular economy-related reform on the

management of construction and demolition

waste. Circular economy targets have been

introduced as part of the country’s wider 2019

environmental policy strategy (

169

), but they relate

more to waste.

Slovakia needs to do more to ensure that all

landfilled waste has been (pre-)treated and

increase its efforts to meet all waste

targets.

With 472 kg of municipal waste in 2023,

Slovakia produces slightly less municipal waste per

capita than the EU average (see Graph A7.3). With

a recycling rate of 49.5% in 2022, Slovakia is

slightly above the EU average for municipal waste

recycling. However, it is at risk of missing the

municipal waste and packaging waste targets, and

of not meeting the 2035 target of maximum 10%

of municipal waste being landfilled. Also, mixed

municipal waste is still allowed to be landfilled

without pre-treatment and Slovakia repeatedly

postponed the introduction of a pre-treatment

obligation. At 60% in 2022, Slovakia’s recycling

rate for plastic packaging waste was above the EU

average, though this figure is not yet based on the

new calculation rules. The preparing for reuse and

recycling rate of mineral construction and

demolition waste in Slovakia in 2022 was 93.2%,

compared with the EU average of 79.8 %.

Slovakia’s material footprint in 2023 was 13.8

tonnes per capita, below the EU average.

Current investment in the circularity

transition has been insufficient.

Slovakia is

estimated to need total additional investment

worth at least EUR 189 million per year for the

circular economy transition, including waste

management. Of the circular economy gap, EUR

43 million relates to recent initiatives, such as eco-

design for sustainable products, packaging and

packaging waste, labelling and digital tools, critical

raw materials recycling and measures proposed

under the amendment of the Waste Framework

Directive. The EUR 121 million constitutes further

investment need to unlock Slovakia’s circular

economy potential (

170

2005

Domestic transport (excl. aviation)

Agriculture

Waste

2023

Buildings (under ESR)

Small industry

Source:

European Environment Agency

Sustainable industry

Circular economy transition

Despite positive trends, there is room for

improving Slovakia’s circularity transition.

10.6% in 2023, Slovakia’s circular material use is

below the EU average and far behind EU leaders.

Slovakia’s resource productivity, at EUR 1.52 per

kg of material consumed in 2023, remained well

below the EU average. Even if Slovakia’s resource

productivity has been slightly improving in the past

decade, the gap towards the EU average has not

decreased. Slovakia needs to boost its efforts to

minimise negative environmental impacts and

reduce dependence on volatile raw materials

markets. Slovakia’s circular economy policy

framework is set in its first dedicated roadmap

(

168

). The roadmap was developed in 2022 thanks

to cooperation with the OECD and the European

Commission’s

Technical Support Instrument. It

introduces more than 30 concrete policy

recommendations,

supported

implementation plan and a monitoring framework,

all to be introduced by 2040. Priority areas are

food and biowaste, the construction sector,

sustainable production and consumption and

economic instruments as cross-cutting measures.

(

168

)

Closing the Loop in the Slovak Republic - A Roadmap

Towards Circularity for Competitiveness, Eco-innovation

and Sustainability, 2022

https://www.oecd.org/environment/waste/highlights-

closing-the-loop-in-the-slovak-republic-roadmap_EN.pdf.

(

169

) Ministry of the Environment,

Greener Slovakia,

2019,

Link.

(

170

) European Commission, DG Environment,

Environmental

investment needs & gaps assessment programme,

2025

update. Expressed in 2022 prices.

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

Graph A7.3:

Municipal waste treatment

600

500

Kg per capita

400

300

200

100

478

421

497

478

472

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

Material recycling

Composting and digestion

Landfill/disposal

Total incineration (incl. energy recovery)

Waste treatment unspecified

EU-27 total waste per capita

Source:

Eurostat

gross value added (GVA)) and it has the 13th

highest damage. The main contributors to

emissions to air are the energy sector as well as

the metals and mineral industry for NOx

emissions, the waste management and chemical

industry for dust emissions, the energy sector, and

the metals sector and mineral sector for SO2 and

heavy metals. As regards industrial emissions of

heavy metals to water, Slovakia is in 4th position

in the EU for emissions intensity (below the EU

average intensity of 0.864 kg / billion EUR GVA)

and has the 13th highest amount of emissions.

The main contributors to emissions to water in

Slovakia are the chemical sector for heavy metals,

nitrogen and total organic carbon, the pulp and

paper industry for phosphorus and the metal

production and processing sector for polycyclic

aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).

The costs of pollution remain far higher than

the investment in pollution prevention and

control.

Based on 2022 data, 3 700 deaths in

Slovakia are attributed each year to fine

particulate matter (PM

2.5

); 260 deaths to nitrogen

dioxide (NO

), and 700 deaths to ozone (O

) (

172

The costs related to all industrial air pollutants in

Slovakia are estimated to be EUR 9.3 billion (

173

In contrast, to meet its objectives for pollution

prevention and control and address the health and

economic costs of pollution, Slovakia needs an

additional EUR 289 million per year (0.26% of

GDP), mostly related to air pollution control (

174

Zero pollution industry

Slovakia has been making significant

progress with reducing air pollution but air

quality continues to give cause for concern in

some parts of its territory.

This pollution is now

decoupled from GDP growth. In 2023,

exceedances above the limit values set by the

Ambient Air Quality Directive were registered for

in one air quality zone in Slovakia. The target

values for ozone concentrations have not been

met in two air quality zones, and the target value

for benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) concentration in six air

quality zones (

171

). However, the 2020-2029

emissions reduction commitments for air

pollutants NO

, NMVOC, SO

, NH

and PM

2.5

under

the National Air Pollution Control Programme have

been met, and the commitments (for the same air

pollutants) for the 2030s are projected to be met

as well.

Slovakia’s industry still releases large

amounts of air and water pollutants.

regards industrial air pollutants, Slovakia comes

7th for the emissions intensity in the EU (above

the EU average of 27.5 EUR / thousand EUR of

(

171

) EEA, EIONET central data repository,

Link.

(

172

) In terms of years of life lost, this implies 41 400 years for

2.5

, 2 900 for NO

, and 7 800 for O

(

173

) Value of 2017, source: EEA, 2024,

The costs to health and

the environment from industrial air pollution in Europe

–

2024 update,

Link.

(

174

) European Commission, DG Environment,

Environmental

investment needs & gaps assessment programme,

2025

update. Expressed in 2022 prices.

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

Table A7.1:

Key clean industry and climate mitigation indicators: Slovakia

Strategic autonomy and technology for the green transition

Net zero industry

Operational manufacturing capacity 2023

- Solar PV (c: cell, w: wafer, m: module), MW

- Wind (b: blade, t: turbine, n: nacelle), MW

Automotive industry transformation

Motorisation rate (passenger cars per 1000 inhabitants), %

New zero-emission vehicles, electricity motor, %

Critical raw materials

Material import dependency, %

Climate mitigation

Industry decarbonisation

GHG emissions intensity of manufacturing production, kg/€

Share of energy-related emissions in industrial GHG emissions

Energy-related GHG emissions intensity of manufacturing

and construction, kg/€

Share of electricity and renewables in final energy consumption

in manufacturing, %

Energy intensity of manufacturing, GWh/€

Share of energy-intensive industries in manufacturing production

GHG emissions intensity of production in sector [...], kg/€

- paper and paper products (NACE C-17)

- chemicals and chemical products (NACE C20)

- other non-metallic mineral products (NACE C23)

- basic metals (NACE C24)

Reduction of effort sharing emissions

GHG emission reductions relative to base year, %

- domestic road transport

- buildings

2005

Effort sharing: GHG emissions, Mt; target, gap, %

Sustainable industry

Circular economy transition

Material footprint, tonnes per person

Circular material use rate, %

Resource productivity, €/kg

Zero pollution industry

Years of life lost due to PM2.5, per 100,000 inhabitants

Air pollution damage cost intensity, per thousand € of GVA

Water pollution intensity, kg weighted by human factors per bn € GVA

1,066

781

815

1,025

45.4

1.7

1,120

702

571

27.5

0.9

2018

15.1

4.7

1.2

23.1

Slovakia

2019

14.3

8.3

1.4

2020

13.2

10.3

1.4

2021

13.2

10.4

1.5

2022

14.2

11.5

1.8

2023

13.8

10.6

2.0

0.30

3.52

2.77

7.01

0.44

3.83

2.79

5.92

2018

1.8

-27.3

0.37

2.58

2.10

6.98

2019

5.9

-28.9

0.39

2.63

2.36

7.46

2020

-7.9

-30.6

0.51

3.14

2.59

7.06

2021

-12.2

-1.9

-21.0

2021

20.3

2017

0.94

57.0

307.9

41.1

2.52

2018

0.86

56.3

303.6

41.3

2.35

Slovakia

EU-27

50-150 (m)

2017

408

0.22

2017

2018

426

0.31

2018

43.0

2019

439

0.16

2019

44.0

- Electrolyzer, MW

- battery, MWh

2020

447

1.19

2020

42.7

2021

459

1.50

2021

45.2

2022

471

1.92

2022

45.8

5000-5250

2023

487

2.90

2023

43.3

Trend

2018

539

1.03

2018

24.2

2021

561

8.96

2021

22.6

Slovakia

2019

0.7

54.7

250.2

42.7

2.11

2020

0.75

56.9

256.3

39.0

2.19

2021

0.86

56.8

291.0

39.8

2.27

2022

0.74

56.7

252.0

37.9

2.26

12.9

0.46

2.68

2.61

6.45

2022

-15.1

1.5

-28.2

2022

19.6

0.41

2.51

1.89

5.59

2023

-14.3

2.5

-32.2

2023

19.8

2023

0.62

56.0

37.7

1.70

EU-27

2017

0.34

44.8

158.4

43.3

1.29

2022

0.27

42.5

132.9

44.2

1.09

7.3

0.73

1.25

2.53

2.79

2018

1.4

21.4

0.68

1.26

2.24

3.49

2023

5.2

32.9

WAM

8.8

Target

-22.7

Trend

WEM

-2.8

EU-27

2018

14.7

11.6

2.1

2021

15.0

11.1

2.3

Source:

Net zero industry:

European Commission:

The net-zero manufacturing industry landscape across Member States: final

report,

2025.

Automotive industry transformation:

Eurostat.

Critical raw materials:

Eurostat.

Climate mitigation:

See

footnotes in the "climate mitigation" section; reduction of effort sharing emissions:

EEA greenhouse gases data viewer;

European

Commission,

Climate Action Progress Report,

2024.

Sustainable industry:

Years of life lost due to PM2.5: Eurostat and EEA,

Harm to human health from air pollution in Europe: burden of disease status,

2024. Air pollution damage: EEA,

EU large industry

air pollution damage costs intensity,

2024. Emissions covered: As, benzene, Cd, Cr, Hg, NH3, Ni, NMVOC, NOX, Pb, dioxins, PM10,

PAH, SOX. Water pollution intensity: EEA,

EU large industry water pollution intensity,

2024. Releases into water covered from

cadmium, lead, mercury, nickel. Other indicators: Eurostat.

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

ANNEX 8: AFFORDABLE ENERGY TRANSITION

This annex outlines the progress made and

the ongoing challenges faced in enhancing

energy competitiveness and affordability,

while advancing the transition to net zero.

examines the measures and targets proposed in

the final (draft) updates to the national energy

and climate plans (NECPs) for 2030.

Slovakia is facing very high energy prices,

also consequently to the stop of the gas

transit via Ukraine.

Despite the efforts made to

accelerate the decarbonisation of its energy

system, there is still space for improvement.

Nuclear energy still represents the main source of

electricity production in the national energy mix.

taxes and levies) shares in Slovakia broadly follow

EU-wide trends with the exception of the share of

network costs in finarul retail gas prices for

household and non-household consumers which

are considerably higher than the EU average

(32.4% and 12.3% for an EU average of 18.3%

and 7.1% respectively) and the electricity network

costs for households which are significantly lower

than the EU average.

Slovakia had the EU’s ninth

highest

wholesale electricity prices, averaging 93

EUR/MWh in 2024(

175

Prices initially fell with

natural gas costs, but surged during the

spring/summer and winter, diverging from

Central Eastern European (CEE) markets.

This

decorrelation was driven by factors affecting both

consumption and generation. On the consumption

side, prolonged and warmer summer heatwaves

and a colder winter in the region led to higher

consumption(

176

). Generation challenge in Slovakia

included lower hydropower (-55% in Nov/Dec

2024 vs same period in 2023)(

177

) due to weather

conditions, reduced nuclear output (-16% in

summer and -4% in winter) due to malfunctions,

and decreased coal production (-57% in 2024) due

to rising CO

costs, further straining the supply-

demand balance. This gap was mainly covered by

costly natural gas-fired generation (+18% in

2024) ramping up especially during peak demand

hours. Consequently, and more so than in 2023,

these conditions drove concentrated price spikes in

the evening hours (18h-21h), when solar output

declined and demand increased, especially during

the summer. On the other hand, average daytime

hourly prices were lower compared to 2023, likely

owing to the uptake of solar output in Slovakia

(+11% in 2024) and in neighbouring markets(

178

Energy prices and costs

Graph A8.1:

Retail energy price components for

household and non-household consumers, 2024

(i) For household consumers, consumption band is DC for

electricity and D2 for gas. Taxes and levies are shown

including VAT.

(ii) For non-household consumers, consumption band is ID for

electricity and I4 for gas. Taxes and levies are shown

excluding VAT and recoverable charges, as these are typically

recovered by businesses.

Source:

Eurostat

Slovakia’s

retail electricity prices dropped

significantly in 2024 for both non-household

and household consumers, but the former

category climbed around 8% above EU

average

while

the

latter

remained

considerably below EU average (almost

39%).

Similarly for retail gas prices, households’

prices remained at a level almost half of the EU

average when prices for non-household consumers

were the 4th highest in the EU. Retail prices

components (energy and supply, network costs,

(

175

) Fraunhofer (ENTSO-E data).

(

176

)2024 load was at 25.6 TWh, increasing by 1% compared to

2023.

(

177

) ENTSO-E.

(

178

)Yearly electricity data, Ember (generation and consumption

data throughout the paragraph).

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

Graph A8.2:

Monthly average day-ahead wholesale

electricity prices and European benchmark

natural gas prices (Dutch TTF)

Slovakia is well interconnected with

neighbouring

countries

and

has

interconnectivity level of over 40%.

However,

further reinforcements of the grid are needed to

support integration of renewables. Additional

reinforcements on the Czech border are to be

addressed by a new interconnector under

consideration, which has received PCI (project of

common interest) status. Further reinforcements

on the border with Hungary are also being

considered. Modernisation of the distribution grid

is supported by two ongoing PCI smart-grid

projects: ACON with Czechia and the Danube InGrid

with Hungary. In addition, the upgrade of the

pumped-hydro storage at Cierny Vah (which also

has PCI status) is expected to improve the

flexibility of the power system within the region.

Energy infrastructure permitting in Slovakia

does not form part of a dedicated legal

framework.

While the existing framework does

not pose any major concerns, there is scope for

further

streamlining

environmental

assessments and a need to boost the resources

and improve the expertise of the competent

authorities. In addition, the priority status of

projects of common interest/projects of mutual

interest is not fully reflected in the permitting

process, as these projects are not automatically

given the status of highest national significance.

Additionally, the designated one-stop-shop,

intended to streamline the process, has limited

powers and a coordinative role, further

complicating the situation.

The Slovak recovery and resilience plan aims

to support faster roll-out of investment in

renewables.

For this purpose, it has included

reforms that have

modernised the country’s

electricity market and created an appropriate

legislative environment, by improving access for

new market participants, increasing certainty and

confidence in state support measures and

improving integration of renewables in the Slovak

electricity grid. In 2023, the solar industry

estimated the grid connection of solar plants to

take between three and six months for utility-scale

projects and one month for small photovoltaic

projects, both below the EU average.

(i) the Title Transfer Facility (TTF) is a virtual trading point for

natural gas in the Netherlands. It serves as the primary

benchmark for European natural gas prices.

(ii) CEE and CWE respectively provide average prices in the

central-western European (Belgium, France, Germany,

Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Austria) and central-

eastern European (Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary,

Slovenia and Romania) markets.

Source:

S&P Platts and ENTSO-E

Flexibility and electricity grids

Slovakia is part of the Core(

179

)

capacity

calculation region (CCR).

Member States should

ensure that a minimum of 70% of technical cross-

border capacity is available for trading. Member

States have a derogation in place to address

specific network elements, introducing interim

targets to be met only on specific critical network

element and contingency (CNECs) while the 70%

rule applies to the remaining network elements. A

derogation enables a lower level of trades to be

made for a time-limited period for operational

security reasons. The ACER Market Monitoring

Report shows that the network elements limiting

cross-border trade mostly pertain to the internal

network.

(

179

)Core is the CCR which covers central European countries

namely Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Germany, France, Croatia,

Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia

and, once connected, Ireland. A CCR is a group of countries which

calculate cross-border electricity trade flows together.

Despite the challenges that remain, Slovakia

has taken steps to support non-fossil

flexibility.

The country does not report on the

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

installed non-fossil flexibility capacity in the draft

NECP. It has committed to further promoting the

development of energy storage and energy

conversion technologies (Power-to-X). Slovakia has

adopted a legal framework that allows

aggregation, including independent aggregation, to

participate in wholesale markets. Slovakia is

working to put in place an energy data centre as a

central data hub for the registration of market

participants and the settlement of services(

180

The country expects this to make possible the

provision of services such as aggregation, energy

sharing and energy communities. However,

Slovakia’s regulatory framework still

presents

barriers to the development of flexible resources.

The slow deployment of smart meters in

combination with regulated retail prices results in

a low number of dynamic retail contracts.

Consumer engagement in the energy market

remains limited.

Slovakia applies regulated

prices for vulnerable customers. All households are

defined as vulnerable, which means that the vast

majority of households are on regulated contracts.

Moreover, the roll-out of smart meters for

households is low. Slovakia has decided to proceed

with a selective roll-out (15%) targeting

prosumers and consumers connected to the

distribution system at a low voltage level with an

annual consumption of at least 4 MWh.

Given the low-carbon electricity mix, the

challenge is the gradual electrification of

transport, in particular public passenger

transport.

For industry to be decarbonised, all

available innovative technologies and all

decarbonised fuels and energy carriers need to be

used. Households will also face the cost of

electrification in the transport sector, but this will

not lead directly to a reduction in consumption.

However, household consumption will be affected

by higher prices for products and services being

passed on by businesses in order to recover the

costs of energy efficiency investments, in

particular investments in electricity generation.

In 2023, electricity accounted for 19.9% of

Slovakia’s final energy consumption,

below

the EU average of 22.9%, and this share has

slightly decreased in the last decade(

181

partly due to an unfavourable electricity-to-

gas

price

ratio

that

disincentivizes

electrification

and

cost-effective

decarbonization.

When it comes to households,

electricity accounts for 20.7% of final energy

consumption, while in industry it represents 26.5%

(see also Annex 7). For the transport sector, this

share remains negligible at 2.1%. Further progress

in electrification across sectors is required for cost

effectively decarbonising the economy and

bringing the benefits of affordable renewable

generation to consumers.

In 2024’s second

semester, Slovakia had amongst the largest fiscal

disparities between electricity and gas in the EU.

Before taxes and levies, the electricity-to-gas price

ratio was 2,4 for households and 2.8 for energy-

intensive industries, rising to 2,9 and 3.1,

respectively, after taxes and levies. For

households, taxes and levies accounted for

~30,9% of the final electricity price, higher than

the EU average of 25%, while gas stood at

~16,7%. For energy-intensive industries, non-

recoverable taxes and levies represented ~13% of

the electricity price, while gas was nearly tax-

exempt (~2%)(

182

Renewables and long-term contracts

2024, 24% of Slovakia’s electricity mix

was supplied by renewable energy sources

(RES),

far behind the EU’s overall RES share of

47%(

183

Installed RES capacity grew by

11.34% in 2024.

The total renewable energy

capacity in Slovakia in 2024 stood at 2 691 MW.

As regards the acceleration of solar deployment,

the total installed capacity in 2024 was 867 MW,

almost an 46.2% increase from 2023. Wind

(

180

)Settlement of services refers to the process optimization and

management of the operation of flexible consumer and producer

equipment in real time and transactions regarding aggregation.

(

181

)CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of -0.7% between

2013 and 2023 and minimum/maximum share of 19.8% and

22.8%, respectively.

(

182

)Analysis based on Eurostat data for the second semester of

2024. For household consumers, consumption band is DC for

electricity and D2 for gas, which refer to medium-sized

consumers and provide an insight into affordability. For non-

household consumers, consumption band is ID for electricity and

I4 for gas, referring to large-sized consumers, providing an

insight into international competitiveness (price used for the

calculation excludes VAT and other recoverable taxes/levies/fees

as non-household consumers are usually able to recover VAT and

some other taxes).

(

183

) Yearly electricity data, Ember.

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

capacity in Slovakia has remained stable at 4 MW

since 2019(

184

Graph A8.3:

Slovakia's installed renewable

capacity (left) and electricity generation mix

(right)

having 150 MW of installed onshore wind capacity

by 2026.

Power purchase agreements (PPAs) are not

very common in Slovakia.

The first virtual PPA

was concluded in 2024, with a volume of 7.2 GWh

per year. 2024 has also seen the conclusion of the

first cross-border PPA with Romania, with an

installed capacity of 461 MW. The construction of

the wind plant, which will take place in Romania, is

expected to be completed by the end of 2025.

Energy efficiency

“Other” includes renewable municipal waste, solid biofuels,

liquid biofuels, and biogas.

Source:

IRENA, Ember

Slovakia has taken steps to digitalise the

permit-granting procedure for renewables.

2024, the Spatial Planning Portal was set up, a

platform that makes it possible for applications to

be submitted for all spatial planning processes in

Slovakia. In addition, Slovakia has digitalised the

grid connection procedure. It has also taken some

steps to streamline the permitting process for

renewable energy projects. An amendment to

environmental impact assessment was approved

in 2024, which will increase the threshold under

which renewable energy projects must undergo

certain environmental assessments. However,

there is still room for further improvement to

shorten the permit-granting procedure for RES,

especially taking into consideration the guidance

on speeding up permit-granting procedures. The

Commission

has

launched

infringement

proceedings against Slovakia for failing to

transpose the permitting provisions laid down in

Directive (EU) 2023/2413 on the promotion of

energy from renewable sources.

Slovakia’s proposed contribution to the 2030

EU renewable energy target in its draft

updated national energy plan is 23%,

significantly below the 35%.

Via the Union

Renewable Energy Platform, Slovakia has

announced auctions for other renewables in 2025

(60 MW), 2026 (100 MW), 2027 (100 MW) and

2028 (100 MW). As part of the European wind

power action plan, Slovakia has committed to

(

184

)

Renewable Energy Capacity Statistics 2025

Slovakia has made progress towards

reaching the 2030 EU energy efficiency

targets.

In 2023, its primary energy consumption

(PEC) was 15.45 Mtoe, a 0.3% increase compared

to 2022. In 2023, its final energy consumption

(FEC) was 9.29 Mtoe, a 5.8% decrease compared

to 2022. Compared to 2022, FEC decreased in all

main sectors: in industry by 9.4%, in the residential

sector by 3.2%, in transport by 1.5% and in

services by 11.2%. According to the recast Energy

Efficiency Directive (Directive (EU) 2023/1791),

Slovakia should try to reach a PEC of 13.97 Mtoe

and an FEC of 8.70 Mtoe by 2030.

According to the national energy and climate

progress report for 2023, Slovakia achieved

new annual energy savings of 106 ktoe/year.

The top four measures were voluntary agreements

in industry, promoting energy efficient transport

(electromobility), increasing energy efficiency in

road freight transport (modernisation of the

vehicle park) and renovation of buildings (blocks of

flats).

Slovakia has not notified the Commission of

its comprehensive heating and cooling

assessment

identifying potential for the

application of high-efficiency cogeneration and

efficient district heating and cooling in line with

Article 25(1) of the Energy Efficiency Directive.

There is no completion date.

It would be beneficial if Slovakia were to

step up its efforts in the residential sector to

achieve a meaningful contribution to its

2030

reduction

target

for

energy

consumption in buildings.

Although FEC in the

residential sector decreased between 2022 and

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

2023, from a medium-term perspective it is

stagnating at well above the 2018 level when

climate corrections are applied. This is despite the

target laid down in the long-term renovation

strategy being a 16% reduction by 2030. In 2022,

heating and cooling represented 84% of the

country’s residential

FEC. Approximately 12 000

heat pumps were sold in 2023, representing a

decrease of 11% compared to the previous year.

Slovakia is planning to ban the sale and

installation of new fuel and oil boilers. There are

several measures in place to support energy

renovations, including support for the installation

of heat pumps. Electricity in Slovakia was 3.4

times more expensive than gas in 2023, meaning

that end users save energy but will not make any

significant financial savings if they choose a heat

pump for heating.

Slovakia deploys an effective supportive

national financing framework that mobilises

energy efficiency investments

and is

composed mainly of grants and subsidies. It is

implemented by the Slovak Innovation and Energy

Agency (SIEA), or by various ministries or the

Environment Fund. The use of financial

instruments remains limited. In 2024, Slovakia

continued implementing financing measures,

including a EUR 357.3 million state aid scheme for

industrial decarbonisation under the Recovery and

Resilience Plan, set to run from 2022 to 2026. In

terms of sectors supported, Slovakia’s national

financing framework focuses mainly on the

building sector (both residential and public

buildings) and to some extent also on industry.

Slovakia continues to have a scheme to support

the construction, reconstruction and modernisation

of heat distribution systems, which was

implemented between 2020 and 2023.

between 2023 and 2024. Given that the transit of

Russian gas via Ukraine has been stopped,

Slovakia no longer receives Russian gas directly

via Ukraine but mostly from Hungary. Slovensk�½

plynárensk�½ priemysel (SPP)(

185

) has already

concluded a diversification contract for the

purchase of gas with Italy’s Eni. Other

diversification contracts exist with BP, ExxonMobil,

Shell and RWE. Alternative transit routes other

than Ukraine are Germany, Austria and Czechia,

which offer sufficient volumes of free transit

capacity or have already been reserved. Moreover,

SPP has also used the transit route from Croatia or

Italy, via Austria to Slovakia. Despite

Russia’s war

of aggression against Ukraine, Slovakia is still fully

dependent on oil deliveries from Russa via the

Druzhba pipeline and has an oil contract with

Russia that is valid until 31 December 2029. In

2024, crude oil imports from the Russian

Federation to Slovakia amounted to more than

80% of all crude oil consumed. The operator of the

sole refinery in Slovakia (MOL group) announced

that they will be able to fully refine from non-

Russian crude oil in 2026. Slovakia has the

possibility to use JANAF/Adria oil pipeline to supply

non-Russian crude oil.

In 2023, Slovakia’s gross inland consumption was

composed of 21.6 % natural gas (3 610 KTOE),

14.4 % of solid fossil fuels (2 402 KTOE), 22.3%

of oil and petroleum products (3 726 KTOW),

28.3% of nuclear heat (4 733 KTOW) and 12.3 %

of renewables and biofuels (2 055 KTOE).(

186

)

Security of supply and diversification

Slovakia’s dependence on Russian fossil

fuels remains high, with efforts to address

this issue progressing too slowly.

In 2024,

around 70% of natural gas was of Russian origin.

The country’s energy security priorities include

enhancing energy security, diversifying energy

sources and transport routes, and promoting

energy storage. Slovakia has reduced gas demand

by 14% voluntarily since August 2022, with an

improvement in demand management being seen

It would be useful if Slovakia were to

increase its efforts to diversify from Russian

energy.

According to the 2023 NECP (

187

), various

forms of possible participation in different

liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects (floating

storage and regasification units (FSRUs)) in the EU

are being considered as an additional contribution

to security of supply. The Slovak gas industry has

signed memoranda of understanding with a

number of companies from Italy, Poland and

Germany that could provide access to LNG

terminals and possible gas supplies to Slovakia.

The above steps have been taken to strengthen

Slovakia’s energy independence. In parallel,

(

185

) The state-owned gas supplier

(

186

)

Energy Balances - Eurostat

(

187

)The final 2024 NECP has not been submitted at the moment

of drafting.

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

negotiations are also taking place with LNG

producers from the USA, Qatar, Asia and Africa. By

concluding these diversification contracts, SPP is

now able to cover around 70% of its customers’

consumption from a non-Russian source (

188

Slovakia's electricity mix has seen a growing

share of nuclear energy, rising from 60.2% in

2022 to 62% in 2023.

Slovakia is continuing to

expand its nuclear fleet, with the newest

Mochovce-3 nuclear reactor having been

connected to the grid and reaching full production

at the end of 2023. The construction of Mochovce-

4, the fourth reactor at the site, is expected to be

completed in the second half of 2025. In 2024,

the government announced plans to construct an

additional reactor at Bohunice, with construction to

be launched in 2031. In January 2025, framework

contracts were announced between newcleo and

JAVYS and VUJE for the construction of advanced

modular reactors (AMRs). Newcleo aims to

construct four lead-cooled fast reactors (LFRs)

that will make it possible for Slovak spent nuclear

fuel to be used as fuel. Diversification has

progressed with Slovenske elektrarne signing an

alternative fuel supply contract with Westinghouse

Sweden for its VVER-440 reactor fleet. In July

2024, Slovenske elektrarne also signed a VVER-

440 fuel supply contract with the French company

Framatome. These steps will reduce dependency

on nuclear fuel originating in Russia. It is important

for Slovakia to develop a national plan to fully

phase out its dependency on Russian nuclear fuel,

as foreseen by the REPowerEU Roadmap adopted

on 6 May 2025.

Slovakia’s GDP (

191

), below the EU weighted

average of 0.49%.

Tax measures accounted for

the full volume. However,

Slovakia’s 2023

Effective Carbon Rate (

192

) averaged EUR 64.05

per tonne of CO₂,

below the EU weighted mean of

EUR 84.80 (

193

Fossil fuel subsidies

In 2023, environmentally harmful (

189

) fossil

fuel subsidies without a planned phase-out

before 2030 represented 0.10% (

190

) of

(

188

) 2023 NECP, p. 67 (EN version).

(

189

) Direct fossil fuel subsidies that incentivise maintaining or

increasing in the availability of fossil fuels and/or use of

fossil fuels.

190

Numerator is based on volumes cross-checked with the

Slovak authorities. For all Member States, it includes public

R&D expenditures for fossil fuels as reported by the IEA

(Energy Technology RD&D Budgets) and excludes, for

methodological consistency, excise tax exemption on

kerosene consumed in intra-EU27 air traffic.

191

192

2023 Gross Domestic Product at market prices, Eurostat.

The Effective Carbon Rate is the sum of carbon taxes, ETS

permit prices and fuel excise taxes, representing the

aggregate effective carbon rate paid on emissions.

OECD (2024), Pricing Greenhouse Gas Emissions 2024

193

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

Table A8.1:

Key Energy Indicators

Slovakia

2021

Household consumer - Electricity retail price (EUR/KWh)

Energy & supply [%]

Network costs

Taxes and levies including VAT

VAT

Household consumer - Gas retail price

Energy & supply

Network costs

Taxes and levies including VAT

VAT

Non-household consumer - Electricity retail price

Energy & supply

Network costs

Taxes and levies excluding VAT

Non-household consumer - Gas retail price

Energy & supply

Network costs

Taxes and levies excluding VAT

Wholesale electrity price (EUR/MWh)

Dutch TTF (EUR/MWh)

0.1647

37.0%

26.0%

36.9%

16.6%

0.0415

45.8%

37.6%

16.6%

0.1483

39.4%

20.6%

28.1%

0.0322

66.5%

12.7%

4.9%

102.4

n/a

2023

0.1976

43.0%

20.6%

36.3%

16.6%

0.0587

50.8%

32.5%

16.7%

0.2779

59.8%

11.4%

14.6%

0.0972

73.1%

8.8%

1.6%

105.0

n/a

2022

0.1839

44.2%

25.3%

30.5%

16.7%

0.0493

51.5%

31.8%

16.6%

0.2795

63.9%

11.2%

9.8%

0.0909

75.2%

6.6%

1.8%

264.1

n/a

2024

0.1789

48.2%

20.8%

30.9%

16.7%

0.0592

50.8%

32.4%

16.7%

0.2131

57.8%

14.8%

12.8%

0.0723

69.2%

12.3%

2.3%

92.8

n/a

2021

0.2314

36.6%

26.7%

36.7%

14.5%

0.0684

43.7%

22.5%

33.8%

15.5%

0.1471

43.0%

15.8%

30.4%

0.0388

66.2%

7.7%

12.5%

111.0

46.9

2022

0.2649

54.3%

25.3%

20.3%

13.4%

0.0948

61.0%

17.3%

21.7%

11.6%

0.2212

66.5%

10.7%

9.9%

0.0836

77.3%

3.8%

6.1%

233.2

123.1

2023

0.2877

55.6%

24.8%

19.6%

13.8%

0.1121

64.5%

17.1%

18.4%

10.2%

0.2337

63.0%

11.9%

11.2%

0.0754

77.3%

5.3%

7.3%

99.1

40.5

2024

0.2879

47.8%

27.2%

25.0%

14.6%

0.1128

53.9%

18.3%

27.8%

13.6%

0.1970

55.8%

15.5%

15.4%

0.0603

68.7%

7.1%

11.6%

84.7

34.4

2017

Gross Electricity Production (GWh)

Combustible Fuels

Nuclear

Hydro

Wind

Solar

Geothermal

Other Sources

Gross Electricity Production [%]

Combustible Fuels

Nuclear

Hydro

Wind

Solar

Geothermal

Other Sources

Net Imports of Electricity (GWh)

As a % of electricity available for final consumption

Electricity Interconnection [%]

Share of renewable energy consumption - by sector [%]

Electricity

Heating and cooling

Transport

Overall

27.738

7.367

15.081

4.623

506

155

26.6%

54.4%

16.7%

0.0%

1.8%

0.0%

0.6%

3.028

11.2%

43.3%

21.3%

9.8%

7.0%

11.5%

2018

26.971

7.542

14.843

3.879

585

116

28.0%

55.0%

14.4%

0.0%

2.2%

0.0%

0.4%

3.682

13.7%

42.7%

21.5%

10.6%

7.0%

11.9%

2019

28.434

7.953

15.282

4.571

589

28.0%

53.7%

16.1%

0.0%

2.1%

0.0%

0.1%

1.700

6.5%

45.3%

22.1%

19.7%

8.3%

16.9%

2020

28.838

7.897

15.444

4.799

663

27.4%

53.6%

16.6%

0.0%

2.3%

0.0%

0.1%

319

1.3%

41.4%

23.1%

19.4%

9.3%

17.3%

2021

30.016

8.999

15.730

4.552

671

30.0%

52.4%

15.2%

0.0%

2.2%

0.0%

0.2%

774

2.9%

40.2%

22.4%

19.5%

8.8%

17.4%

2022

26.838

6.254

15.920

3.963

650

23.3%

59.3%

14.8%

0.0%

2.4%

0.0%

0.2%

1.412

5.9%

47.0%

22.9%

19.9%

8.9%

17.5%

2023

29.903

5.882

18.333

5.028

605

19.7%

61.3%

16.8%

0.0%

2.0%

0.0%

0.2%

-3.422

-15.5%

50.6%

24.2%

18.8%

9.2%

17.0%

2024

47.8%

2020

Import Dependency [%]

of Solid fossil fuels

of Oil and petroleum products

of Natural Gas

Dependency from Russian Fossil Fuels [%]

of Natural Gas

of Crude Oil

of Hard Coal

56.3%

86.2%

102.0%

88.1%

85.4%

100.0%

35.0%

2021

52.6%

88.1%

98.3%

69.0%

68.9%

100.0%

25.8%

2022

69.6%

96.1%

103.0%

137.3%

38.6%

96.2%

8.9%

2023

57.7%

90.4%

105.2%

105.7%

63.9%

84.0%

0.0%

2020

57.5%

35.8%

96.8%

83.6%

41.0%

25.7%

49.1%

2021

55.5%

37.2%

91.7%

83.6%

40.9%

25.2%

47.4%

2022

62.5%

45.9%

97.8%

97.6%

20.7%

18.4%

21.5%

2023

58.3%

40.8%

94.5%

90.0%

9.3%

3.0%

1.0%

2017

Gas Consumption (in bcm)

Gas Consumption year-on-year change [%]

Gas Imports - by type (in bcm)

Gas imports - pipeline

Gas imports - LNG

Gas Imports - by main source supplier [%]

Russia

Not specified

5.0

5.4%

5.2

0.0

84.6%

15.4%

2018

4.9

-1.2%

4.4

0.0

100.0%

0.0%

2019

4.9

-0.1%

6.7

0.0

100.0%

0.0%

2020

4.9

-0.4%

4.3

0.0

85.4%

14.6%

2021

5.5

11.9%

5.1

0.0

68.9%

31.1%

2022

4.5

-17.4%

6.2

0.0

38.6%

61.4%

2023

4.2

-6.2%

4.5

0.0

63.9%

36.1%

Source:

Eurostat, ENTSO-E, S&P Platts

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

ANNEX 9: CLIMATE ADAPTATION, PREPAREDNESS AND ENVIRONMENT

Extreme weather events and nature

degradation have a significant impact on

Slovakia, with economic sectors such as

agriculture, forestry and construction heavily

dependent on ecosystem services.

Despite

having a large proportion of protected areas,

effective conservation measures are lacking,

leading to ongoing legal issues and funding gaps

that threaten biodiversity and economic stability.

The current Slovak government has diverted

funding away from nature and diversity protection

and has relaxed environmental protection laws.

Slovakia is making strides in transitioning to

sustainable agricultural practices, including

increasing organic farming and implementing

stricter environmental standards. However, these

efforts are undermined by insufficient investment

in biodiversity conservation, putting Slovakia’s

compliance with global biodiversity commitments

and its long-term socioeconomic development at

risk.

The water quality of Slovakia’s surface water

bodies shows a deteriorating trend in terms of

their ecological and chemical status. Its

wastewater treatment also remains a cause for

concern. Addressing these challenges is crucial to

safeguarding Slovakia’s natural resources and

ensuring the resilience and competitiveness of its

economy.

plan (NAP) in 2021, which sets out the priorities

for adaptation in the sectors identified as

vulnerable to climate change (in particular water

management, agriculture, forestry, nature, health

and urban planning). However, Slovakia still needs

to carry out a comprehensive assessment of its

vulnerability to climate change. Furthermore,

progress on the new climate law, referred to in the

Government Manifesto of October 2023 (

194

), has

stalled in 2024. The update of its national

adaptation strategy (NAS) is due in 2025. Slovakia

also has yet to submit its updated national energy

and climate plan to the European Commission. The

most recent draft update does not take account of

relevant climate vulnerabilities and risks, which

may jeopardise the achievement of energy and

climate mitigation objectives. In addition,

adaptation policies and measures (to address

these risks and vulnerabilities) are not adequately

described.

Despite advances in climate monitoring and

modelling, Slovakia faces challenges in the

effective implementation of adaptation

solutions.

As mentioned in the conclusions to the

assessment of Slovakia's progress towards

adaptation under European climate legislation,

Slovakia has continued to develop its climate

monitoring

and

modelling

tools,

but

methodological gaps in the monitoring of

adaptation and climate risks remain. Although

enhanced climate-observation tools inform

decision-making in specific sectors, there is limited

capacity for systemic risk assessments. Challenges

in translating climate risk information into

practicable solutions therefore remain. The climate

vulnerability and risk analysis has not identified

any further risks that were not reported in 2021,

and the reported risks and sectors appear to be

consistent with the results of independent analysis

by the Joint Research Centre and the country’s

own national risk assessment (

195

). Guidelines are

available on how to monitor and evaluate

adaptation policy, but it is still difficult to establish

how much public money is spent overall on

climate adaptation and to measure results.

Furthermore, personnel changes at the Ministry of

the Environment during 2024 have weakened the

Ministry's expertise capacity and, as a result,

finding sufficient financing from appropriate

(

194

) Úrad vlády Slovenskej republiky, 2023,

Programové

vyhlásenie vlády Slovenskej republiky,

Link.

(

195

)

SWD(2023) 932 final; p. 266.

Climate adaptation and preparedness

Slovakia is vulnerable to the impacts of

climate change resulting from extreme

weather

events,

including

increased

precipitation and rising temperatures, which

increase the risk of flooding.

Climate risks

directly affect Slovakia’s economy and society.

Between 1980 and 2023, Slovakia recorded

EUR 1.95 billion in economic losses caused by

extreme weather- and climate-related events.

However, only 4% of the economic damages over

that period were insured. In 2022, 20% of

Slovakia’s area was affected by drought.

National policy measures related to

adaptation and preparedness have been

further strengthened over recent years, but

additional efforts are still required.

Slovakia

has been proactive in addressing climate-change

impacts over the past few years and continued to

make progress between 2021 and 2023. A crucial

step was the approval of the national adaptation

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

sources in Slovakia and via EU funding remains a

challenge in sectors that need to adapt. Other

barriers to successful implementation, in addition

to insufficient funding, are low awareness at

regional and local level and an inadequate degree

of interministerial cooperation (especially for

mainstreaming climate adaptation into sectoral

policies and plans). Further efforts are needed to

enhance the climate resilience of infrastructure

and to make more progress on adaptation

solutions.

Water resilience

Slovakia needs to continue its efforts to

improve its floods resilience.

The floods of

September 2024, which caused damage in several

regions of Slovakia, demonstrate the urgency.

Slovakia’s total economic losses caused by floods

between 1980 and 2023 are estimated at

EUR 603 million (

196

). Improving sustainable water

management and flood protection, by prioritising

nature-based solutions and river restoration, is

crucial to the competitiveness of many economic

sectors. Slovakia is not among the EU Member

States that suffer major water stress. The water

exploitation index plus (WEI+) was 0.4 in 2022.

Manufacturing (51%) and public water supply

(32%) had the highest water consumption in

Slovakia in 2022. Slovakia’s water productivity is

above the EU average, standing at EUR 152 per m

of abstracted water in 2022 (

197

The water quality

of Slovakia’s surface

water bodies shows a deteriorating trend in

terms of their ecological and chemical

status.

Slovakia’s

third river basin management

plans, covering 2022-2027, show a decrease in

the number of surface water bodies classified as

having good (or better) ecological status/potential,

from 56% (second plan) to just 41% (third plan).

Agricultural eutrophication still places great

pressure on Slovakia’s surface water bodies.

Hydromorphological alterations, i.e. changes to the

shape and flow of water bodies, such as breaking

the continuous flow of a river, are another source

(

196

) EIOPA, 2024,

Dashboard on insurance protection gap for

natural catastrophes,

Link.

(

197

) Measured as GDP in 2010 chain linked volumes over total

fresh surface water abstracted in cubic metres.

of pressure. Emerging issues are invasive species,

sediment management and fish management. As

regards the

chemical status of Slovakia’s surface

water bodies, the deterioration between the

second and the third river basin management

plans is even greater. The proportion of surface

water bodies with a good chemical status fell from

98% to just 71%. This is reported to be mostly due

to improved monitoring and increased confidence

in classification. The pressures come from

ubiquitous, persistent, bio-accumulative and toxic

substances, which are difficult to address, and

from pollution from industrial point sources,

organic pollution from municipal point sources and

industry/agriculture.

91%

Slovakia's

groundwater bodies are reported to have a good

quantitative status in the third plan, showing a

significant improvement since the second plan.

87% of Slovakia’s groundwater bodies are

reported to have a good chemical status, also

showing a significant improvement since the

second plan. Though there has been an apparent

improvement in status, a significant sustained

upwards trend in concentrations of pollutants

(nutrients and total organic carbon) is reported.

The longstanding lack of environmental

assessment of numerous hydroelectric power

plants has resulted in the deterioration of

Slovakia’s rivers,

especially the river Hron.

Slovakia needs to remedy the situation as soon as

possible (

198

Slovakia’s wastewater treatment

remains a

cause for concern.

Despite improvements in

compliance over the years, mainly thanks to EU

funding, Slovakia has experienced difficulties in

implementing the Urban Wastewater Treatment

Directive. Its incomplete implementation forced

the Commission to take legal action against

Slovakia in 2016 and again in 2021. Both

infringement cases are advancing, and it is likely

that they will reach the Court. In 2020, 319

agglomerations complied with the Directive's

requirements in Slovakia, while 37 agglomerations,

generating 246 150 p.e. of urban waste water, did

not. The Directive was revised in 2024 (

199

strengthening existing treatment standards and

(

198

) As the current situation breaches the Environmental Impact

Assessment Directive, the Water Framework Directive and

the Habitats Directive, an infringement case against Slovakia

is ongoing.

(

199

) Directive 2024/3 019 of 27 November 2024.

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

introducing new requirements such as additional

treatment of micropollutants in urban waste

water. Slovakia has until 31 July 2027 to

transpose it into its legal system.

With a view to achieving the environmental

targets

under

EU water

legislation,

Slovakia’s water investment gap

amounts to

EUR 223 million per year (0.2% of GDP), with

almost half relating to waste water (105

million per year).

Slovakia’s annual water

investment needs stand at an estimated EUR 506

million (in 2022 prices), see Graph A9.2. This

includes both the water industry and water

protection/management. The largest part of the

total annual need, EUR 231 million, relates to

wastewater management, including the additional

costs of the revised Directive. Slovakia’s current

annual water investments, over the period 2021-

2027, are estimated to be around EUR 282 million

per year (in 2022 prices). Of the total financing,

38.1% is provided by the EU multiannual financial

framework (mostly through cohesion policy), with

small support from the Recovery and Resilience

Facility (2.8%). The bulk of the financing comes

from national sources (59%) (

200

as regulating water cycles, maintaining soil health,

and sequestering carbon.

Nature degradation creates significant risks

to Slovakia's economy and competitiveness,

as it is one of the Member States with a

significant

dependency

ecosystem

services.

39% of Slovakia’s gross value added

has a high direct dependency on ecosystem

services. Though this is lower than the EU average

of 44%, several sectors, such as agriculture,

forestry, fisheries, mining, construction, water

utilities and healthcare delivery (see Graph A9.1),

are particularly dependent on ecosystem services.

100% of the gross value added of these sectors is

directly dependent on those services. This means

that failure to maintain the capacity of

ecosystems to deliver services could entail

significant costs or even stop production in these

sectors. Protecting and restoring key ecosystems

would ensure that the long-term competitiveness

of these economic sectors is preserved.

Biodiversity and ecosystems

The state of nature and ecosystems remains

under pressure, affecting Slovakia’s climate

resilience.

Infrastructure development, such as

roads, motorways, small hydroelectric power

plants,

water

reservoirs

and

anti-flood

infrastructure, causes fragmentation of natural

habitats, and thus has a major negative impact on

biodiversity. According to the latest available data

(2018), only 37.6% of Slovakia’s habitats have a

good status, higher than the EU average of 14.7%.

Similarly, the conservation status of species is

concerning, with 23% reported as having a good

status, lower than the EU average of 27.5%. This

situation has severe implications for Slovakia’s

climate resilience, as the loss of biodiversity

impairs ecosystems’ ability to provide services that

help mitigate the effects of climate change, such

(

200

) Water investment levels are estimated through tracking EU

funds, EIB projects and national expenditure (EPEA accounts,

Eurostat).

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

Graph A9.1:

Direct dependency(1) on ecosystem

services(2) of the gross value added generated by

economic sector in 2022

Agriculture

Forestry

Fishery and acquaculture

Mining and metals

Construction

Water utilities

Healthcare delivery

Aviation travel and tourism

Food beverages and tobacco

Supply chain and transport

Public services and others

Electricity

Chemical and materials industry

Electronics

Oil and gas

Real estate

Heat utilities

Automotive

Retail consumer goods and…

Information technology

Banking and capital markets

Insurance and asset…

Digital communications

High

Medium

Low

20%

40%

60%

80% 100%

concerns Slovakia’s failure to take measures

protect the Capercaillie bird species (

202

Slovakia’s

investment needs for biodiversity

and ecosystems are estimated at EUR 781

million per year

(in 2022 prices) over the period

2021-2027 (see Graph A9.2). The current level of

financing for biodiversity and ecosystem

conservation in Slovakia is around EUR 364 million

per year. The existing gap (EUR 416 million per

year, corresponding to 0.38% of Slovakia’s GDP)

puts at risk the country’s commitment to global

biodiversity agreements and undermines its long-

term economic and social development.

Nevertheless,

Slovakia

recently

diverted

substantial cohesion funds away from nature

protection and stopped the national cofinancing of

several LIFE projects concerning nature protection

and restoration.

Graph A9.2:

Investment needs and gaps in EUR

million, in 2022 constant prices

(1) Dependency based on the sector’s own operations,

excluding value chain operations within countries and across

international value chains. A high dependency indicates a high

potential exposure to nature-related shocks or deteriorating

trends, which means that the disruption of an ecosystem

service could cause production failure and severe financial

loss.

(2) Ecosystem services are the contributions of ecosystems to

the benefits that are used in economic and other human

activity, including provisioning services (e.g. biomass

provisioning or water supply), regulating and maintenance

services (e.g. soil quality regulation or pollination), and cultural

services (e.g. recreational activities).

Source:

Hirschbuehl et al., 2025,

The EU economy's

dependency on nature,

Link.

900.0

800.0

700.0

600.0

500.0

400.0

300.0

200.0

100.0

Biodiversity

Baseline

Gap

Water

Focused action on nature protection and

restoration is needed to

meet Slovakia’s

nature restoration targets.

Slovakia’s 2030

National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan is

currently in preparation. It has not yet submitted

national targets to the Convention on Biological

Diversity’s online reporting

tool. In 2022, 37.4% of

Slovakia's territory was protected land area

(including Natura 2000 and other nationally-

designated protected areas), which is above the EU

average of 26%. However, Slovakia has not yet

drawn up the conservation measures to ensure

those areas' effective protection and restoration.

An infringement procedure concerning this matter

is ongoing (

201

). Another ongoing infringement case

(

201

) European Commission, 2022, February infringements

package: key decisions,

Link.

Source:

European Commission, DG Environment,

Environmental investment needs & gaps assessment

programme, 2025 update.

Sustainable agriculture and land use

Slovakia’s

carbon removals fall short of the

level of ambition needed to meet its 2030

target for land use, land-use change and

(

202

) Court of Justice of the European Union, 2022, Press release

No 107/22,

Link.

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

forestry (LULUCF).

Removals by Slovakia’s

LULUCF sector have increased considerably since

2018. To meet its 2030 LULUCF target, additional

carbon removals of -0.5 million tonnes of CO

equivalent (CO

eq) are needed (

203

). The latest

available projections show a gap to target of 1.9

million tonnes of CO

eq for 2030 (

204

). Therefore,

additional measures need to be applied to reach

the 2030 target.

Slovakia’s agriculture is still a

major source

of greenhouse gas emissions and continues

to have a significant impact on air, water

and soils.

Slovak agriculture, together with

forestry, represents around 2.2% of the gross

value added of the country’s economy (

205

). It plays

a crucial role by utilising the resources of rural

areas to provide food and public assets, including

environmental, landscaping and social assets. In

2022, agriculture was responsible for a total of

1.9 million tonnes of CO

eq, accounting for around

5.1% of the country’s total emissions. This

includes 1.5 million tonnes of CO

eq from

livestock. Slovakia's utilised agricultural area (UAA)

decreased slightly between 2012 (1.9 million

hectares) and 2023 (1.8 million hectares). Nutrient

losses from agriculture, mainly from mineral

fertilisers and manure, are a significant

environmental concern and pose a threat to

human health. This is reflected in the country’s

nitrogen balance of 44.9 kg of nitrogen per

hectare of UAA (in 2021). Furthermore, according

to data from the Nitrates Directive, 12% of

groundwater monitoring stations in Slovakia

recorded average nitrate concentrations above

50 mg/l between 2016 and 2019, exceeding the

healthy threshold for human consumption. The

livestock density index was 0.33 in 2020, and is

thus below the EU average of 0.75. Ammonia

emissions have shown a decreasing trend between

2018 (29.5 thousand tonnes annually) and 2022

(21.5 thousand tonnes annually). 7% of monitoring

sites in Slovakia reported pesticide thresholds

being exceeded in surface waters (based on 2017-

2022 data), which is significantly lower than the

European average of 29% (

206

Slovakia is transitioning to a sustainable

food system by implementing policies to

reduce the environmental impact of

agriculture.

In 2022, 4% of its agricultural land

had landscape features such as woods and non-

productive grasslands, below the EU average of

5.6%. Organic farming, which reduces the use of

synthetic fertilisers and pesticides, has been

steadily increasing in Slovakia since 2005 and

made up 13.7% of its agricultural land in 2022.

Slovakia’s

common agricultural policy (CAP)

strategic plan is aimed at ensuring the sustainable

competitiveness and resilience of farms and a

fairer income for agricultural producers, with

particular attention paid to small-scale and young

farmers. The plan also focuses on improving the

protection of natural resources and the climate. It

contributes substantially to improving the vitality

and quality of life in rural areas through

investments, knowledge transfer and innovation.

Slovakia faces major challenges relating to

the management of natural resources and

biodiversity loss, particularly given the

intensification of agricultural production and

the impacts of climate change.

To deliver on

higher environmental goals, Slovakia applies

stricter mandatory standards to maintain the good

agricultural and environmental conditions (GAECs)

of farmland. More than EUR 513 million in EU

funds are reserved for Slovakia’s farmers

who

voluntarily commit to more environmentally

ambitious activities on agricultural land, as part of

the new whole-farm eco-scheme. This includes

practices such as improving soil structure, setting

aside non-productive areas and sowing them with

pollinator mixtures, limiting the maximum area of

cultivated land or postponing mowing. Slovakia

aims to cultivate 20% of its agricultural land

under organic farming by 2030. The CAP strategic

plan helps this process by providing financial aid

to 270 000 hectares (14% of the agricultural

land). Under rural development, about 46% of

funds are reserved for environmental and climate-

objectives,

such

agri/forest

environmental and climate measures. On more

than 27% of the agricultural area, practices

resulting in sustainability and the reduced use of

(

206

) EEA, 2024, Pesticides in rivers, lakes and groundwater in

Europe,

Link.

(

203

) National LULUCF targets of the Member States in line with

Regulation (EU) 2023/839.

(

204

) Climate Action Progress Report 2024 COM/2024/498.

(

205

)

Share of agriculture in GDP - Data Portal - United Nations

Economic Commission for Europe

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

pesticides are applied. Furthermore, following the

Russian invasion of Ukraine, the plan aims to

increase investments in the production of

renewable energy (

207

(

207

) Slovakia

–

CAP Strategic Plan,

Link.

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

Table A9.1:

Key indicators tracking progress on climate adaptation, resilience and environment

Climate adaptation and preparedness:

Drought impact on ecosystems

[area impacted by drought as % of total]

Forest-fire burnt area

(1)

[ha, annual average 2006-2023]

Economic losses from extreme events

[EUR million at constant 2022 prices]

Insurance protection gap

(2)

[composite score between 0 and 4]

Heat-related mortality

(3)

[number of deaths per 100 000 inhabitants in 2013-

2022]

Sub-national climate adaptation action

[% of population covered by the EU Covenant of Mayors

for Climate & Energy]

Water resilience:

Water Exploitation Index Plus, WEI+

(4)

[total water consumption as % of renewable freshwater

resources]

Water consumption

[million m

]

Ecological/quantitative status of water bodies

[% of water bodies failing to achieve good status]

Surface water bodies

Groundwater bodies

Biodiversity and ecosystems:

Conservation status of habitats

(6)

[% of habitats having a good conservation status]

Common farmland bird index

2000=100

Protected areas

[% of protected land areas]

Sustainable agriculture and land use:

Bioeconomy's added value

(7)

[EUR million]

Landscape features

[% of agricultural land covered with landscape features]

Food waste

[kg per capita]

Area under organic farming

[% of total UAA]

Nitrogen balance

[kg of nitrogen per ha of UAA]

Nitrates in groundwater

(8)

[mgNO

/l]

Net greenhouse gas removals from LULUCF

[Kt CO

-eq]

9.9

50.8

18.3

(9)

(5)

Slovakia

2018

1.4

2019

0.38

2020

0.02

2021

0.6

2022

20.26

1.25

2023

0.67

1.25

EU-27

2018

6.77

2021

2.76

24 142

62 981

Slovakia

2018

0.5

2019

0.3

2020

0.4

2021

0.3

2022

0.4

2023

EU-27

2018

4.5

2021

4.5

309

206

312

206

205

Slovakia

59%

EU-27

59%

93%

2018

37.6

83.5

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

2018

14.7

72.2

2021

74.4

Slovakia

2018

3 759

2019

3 509

2020

3 608

2021

4 069

2022

2023

EU-27

2018

634 378

2021

716 124

10.3

51.2

16.2

4 994 -

107

11.7

42.2

18.6

7 179 -

101

13.5

44.9

17.9

7 211 -

106

13.7

7 226

7.99

256 077 -

240 984

4 231 -

(1) The data show the average for the timespan 2006-2023 based on EFFIS - European Forest Fire Information System.

(2) Scale: 0 (no protection gap)

–

4 (very high gap). EIOPA, 2024, Dashboard on insurance protection gap for natural catastrophes.

(3) van Daalen, K. R. et al., 2024, The 2024 Europe report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: unprecedented

warming demands unprecedented action. The Lancet Public Health.

(4) This indicator measures total water consumption as a percentage of the renewable freshwater resources available for a given

territory and period. Values above 20% are generally considered to be a sign of water scarcity, while values equal or greater than

40% indicate situations of severe water scarcity.

(5) European Commission, 2024, seventh Implementation Report from the Commission to the Council and the European

Parliament on the implementation of the Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC) and the Floods Directive (2007/60/EC) (Third

River Basin Management Plans and Second Flood Risk Management Plans).

(6) For this indicator, the EU average includes figures for the UK under the previous configuration, EU-28.

(7) European Commission, 2023, EU Bioeconomy Monitoring System dashboards.

(8) Nitrates can persist in groundwater for a long time and accumulate at a high level through inputs from anthropogenic sources

(mainly agriculture). The EU drinking water standard sets a limit of 50 mg NO

/L to avoid threats to human health.

(9) Net removals are expressed in negative figures, net emissions in positive figures. Reported data are from the 2024

greenhouse gas inventory submission. 2030 value of net greenhouse gas removals as in Regulation (EU) 2023/839

–

Annex IIa.

Source:

Eurostat, EEA.

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

FAIRNESS

ANNEX 10: LABOUR MARKET

Despite the strong performance of Slovakia’s

labour market, structural challenges are

having

detrimental

impact

competitiveness and economic growth.

Positive labour-market developments hide regional

disparities,

while

long-term

and

youth

unemployment remain high. The labour market is

also hampered by an ageing population, net

emigration of talent and inactivity among certain

ethnic groups. If we are to achieve a more

inclusive labour market and boost economic

growth, key challenges include: i) enhancing job

opportunities, ii) addressing skill mismatches iii)

strengthening training and education iv)

encouraging underrepresented groups to enter

work and v) better preparation for the transition to

work.

The labour market is performing well overall,

but challenges persist.

The employment rate

stood at 78.1% in 2024, remaining above the EU

average (75.8%) and exceeding

Slovakia’s national

target for 2030 (76.5%). However, regional

disparities remain: in 2023, in eastern Slovakia

only 71.6% of the working-age population was

employed compared to 85.8% in the capital region.

The unemployment rate reached a historically low

level, 5% in Q1-2025 (vs 5.8% for the EU) (

208

). At

the same time, spending on unemployment benefit

accounted for 0.63% of gross domestic product,

the highest among the Visegrad countries (vs

1.05% EU average). Regional disparities are also

clear in the availability of basic services, decent

housing, educational outcomes and higher poverty

rates. The marginalised Roma population is

disproportionately affected by these disparities.

Despite signs that shortages in the labour

market are easing, the problem is still

apparent in certain sectors.

The job-vacancy

rate dropped to 1.2% in Q3-2024, which was

higher than its pre-pandemic level (1.0% in Q4-

2019 and 0.7% in Q4-2020) but far below the EU

average of 2.3%.

In 2024, Slovakia’s job vacancy

rate in transformation sectors was 0.8% (EU:

1.8%) in manufacturing, 3.6% (EU: 1.7%) in

electricity, gas steam and air-conditioning supply,

1.0% (EU: 1.6%) in water supply and waste

(

208

) Eurostat - employment and unemployment annual statistics

management, 0.4% (EU: 3.1%) in construction, and

2.1% (2.2%) in transportation and storage. The

occupational groups with the highest occurrence of

shortage occupations were: stationary plant and

machine operators, building and related trades

workers (excluding electricians) and drivers and

mobile plant operators (

209

). Despite relatively low

job vacancy rates in their sectors, the proportion of

employers who reported labour shortages as one

of the main factors limiting their production was

slightly above the EU average in construction

(31% in Q4-2024), industry (23%), and services

(29%) (

210

). High vacancy rates were recorded in

human health and social work activities; education;

arts, entertainment and recreation; public

administration and defence; compulsory social

security; administrative and support services (

211

Labour market slack (

212

) decreased from 7.2% to

6.8% between Q3-2023 and Q3-2024, well below

the EU average (10.9%). The fall in labour market

slack was driven mainly by a decrease in the

proportion of unemployed people.

Slovakia has

moderate skills mismatches, with some

variation by sector.

The skills-mismatch (

213

)

rate has remained approximately unchanged in

2023 compared to 2022, at approximately 21

points and slightly above the EU average (19.6

points). In 2023, 22.9% of workers with a higher-

education qualification was employed in

occupations that did not require such a

qualification. This proportion was close to the EU

average but varied between sectors. The over-

qualification rate is particularly high in public

administration, defence and compulsory social

security, in which it reaches 35.9% compared to

the EU average of 24.2%. For instance, the share

(

209

) Eurostat,

Labour Market Information: Slovakia - European

Union

(

210

) ECFIN European Business and Consumer Surveys

(

211

) Eurostat,

Labour Market Information: Slovakia - European

Union

(

212

) The labour market slack is the underutilisation of labour

resources, including unemployment, underemployment, and

those available for work but not actively seeking

employment.

(

213

) Skills mismatch is the discrepancy between workers' skills

and labour market needs. It is not only a problem

encountered by jobseekers; it also affects employees

working in positions below their levels of qualification or

outside their fields of study, and concerns some groups of

older workers that face difficulties in keeping their skills up

to date.

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

of over-qualified workers in the construction

sector, at 14.4%, is the third lowest in the

European Union.

The 2023 OECD programme for the

international

assessment

adult

competencies (PIAAC) reported substantial

skill losses among adults (see Annex 12).

Over half of businesses state that their workforce

has some degree of skill gap (54%) (

214

). Slovakia

is affected heavily by automation, a trend that is

set to continue. It would be beneficial to continue

to provide more upskilling and reskilling

opportunities to an increasing share of the

population.

Graph A10.1:

Key rates: activity, unemployment,

long-term unemployment, youth unemployment,

NEETs

unemployed people accounted for almost two

thirds of jobseekers in 2023 (65.1% vs EU:

35%)(

215

). In 2024, the long-term unemployed

represented 3.5% (EU: 1.9%) among all

unemployed. Nearly half (46.5%) of all

unemployed people have been looking for a job for

two years or more. Many women and marginalised

Roma communities are not active in the labour

market. The youth (age group 15-24)

unemployment rate in Slovakia was 16.4% in Q1-

2025 (

216

), well above the EU average of 14.5%.

The proportion of young people not in

employment, education or training (NEETs)

improved, falling from 12.3% in 2022 to 11.2% in

2023. The ESF+ has been funding activities to

reduce the long-term unemployment rate (in the

form of Programme Slovakia 2021-2027). A

budget of EUR 641 million has been assigned in

the form of tailored-made and individualised

support to disadvantaged jobseekers. To reduce

youth unemployment, Slovakia adopted a national

youth guarantee plan in 2022, which includes

measures such as: i) individualised counselling, ii)

mentoring, iii) an information campaign, iv) tools

for the profiling of young jobseekers, v)

development and assessment of further education

and skills (digital, green and entrepreneurial skills),

and vi) support for job creation, graduate

traineeships and self-employment.

Lower-skilled workers, young people and

marginalised Roma communities are often

inactive on the labour market.

Although the

gap in employment between persons with and

without disabilities is narrowing, it remains

significant at 22.1 percentage points (pps) (vs the

EU average of 21.5 pps in 2022). Slovakia has not

yet set an employment target for persons with

disabilities. A third of young persons with

disabilities is in the NEETs category. Slovakia has

one of the highest unemployment rates for low-

skilled young people in the EU. The unemployment

rate among people from disadvantaged groups,

such as the marginalised Roma communities, rose

from 44.3% in 2020 to 53.4% in 2022 (more than

double the EU average of 19%). Moreover, the

share of young Roma NEETs was 65% in 2020,

(

215

) The long-term unemployment rate represents the percentage

of people unemployed for 12 months or more within the

labour force.

(

216

) Eurostat, Unemployment rate by sex - age group 15-24,

https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/teilm021/def

ault/table?lang=en&category=t_labour.t_employ.t_lfsi.t_une

2010

2011

2020

2021

2009

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2022

2023

Activity rate 20-64 (rhs)

Unemployment rate 15-74 (lhs)

Long-term unemployment rate 15-74 (lhs)

Youth unemployment rate 15-24 (lhs)

NEET rate 15-29 (lhs)

(1) Activity rate and Employment rate (% of population), total,

ages 20-64

Unemployment rate and long-term unemployment rate (% of

labour force), total, ages 15-74

Youth unemployment rate (% of labour force), total, ages 15-

NEET: Not in employment, education or training (% of

population), total, ages 15-29

Source:

Eurostat, LFS [lfsi_emp_a, une_rt_a, edat_lfse_20,

une_ltu_a]

Long-term

unemployment

and

youth

unemployment rates remain high.

Long-term

(

214

) OECD (2024), PIAAC Employer Module, Do Adults Have the

Skills They Need to Thrive in a Changing World?: Survey of

Adult Skills 2023, OECD Skills Studies, OECD Publishing, Paris,

https://doi.org/10.1787/b263dc5d-en, p. 175

2024

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

compared to 14% in 2020 in the overall age group

(15-24); 77% of young Roma women are not in

work, education or further training compared to

52% of young Roma men (

217

). The factors

contributing to the high inactivity of the

marginalised Roma population on the labour

market include i) lack of job opportunities, ii)

widespread discrimination, iii) social exclusion, iv)

high rates of early school leaving, and v) lack of

access to basic services such as water, sanitation

and decent housing.

While the gender employment gap is

relatively low, Slovakia has one of the

highest gender pay gaps in the EU.

With 59.9

points out of 100, Slovakia ranks low on the

Gender Equality Index 2024 (

218

), which is 11.1

points below the EU average. Although the gender

employment gap is relatively low (7.7 pps vs EU:

10.2 pps), the gender wage gap is significant for

women (aged above 30) with childcare duties. The

difference between average gross hourly earnings

of male and female paid employees was 17.7% in

2022 (vs EU average 12.7%). Caring duties and

household work are not shared equally between

women and men: (most of these tasks are done by

women) (

219

). The motherhood penalty, i.e. the loss

in lifetime earnings experienced by women raising

children, is one of the main causes of the gender

pay gap. Increasing the availability of high quality

and affordable childcare would help keep more

women in work. In contrast with kindergartens for

children aged 3-6, which benefited greatly from

the recovery and resilience plan (RRP), Slovakia

has one of the lowest enrolment rates of children

under the age of 3 in formal childcare (5.1% in

2024 vs EU: 39.2% in 2024)(

220

). Some progress

has been made in increasing the participation rate

for the under 3s (increase from 1% in 2023 to

5.1% in 2024), bringing Slovakia closer to its

commitment to increase the enrolment rate based

on the Barcelona target (5.8%).

Increasing the availability of childcare for

children under the age of 3 and increasing

flexible working arrangements, such as part-

time work, to support women and parents

(

217

) The social and employment situation of Roma communities

in Slovakia, Study requested by the EMPL committee, 2020

(

218

) The data for 2024 Index is mostly from 2022.

( ) The Gender Equality (EIGE) index, 2023

219

with small children are key.

Maternity leave in

Slovakia (34 weeks), combined with the possibility

of parental leave until the child turns three, is long

compared to other countries. Extended maternity

leave may unintentionally affect women's

earnings. Although longer leaves are associated

with higher wage gaps (though not statistically

significant), higher nursery attendance slightly

lowers gaps, highlighting the importance of early

childcare services (

221

). Only approx. 6% of jobs

available on the Slovak labour market are part-

time and the legislation in this area is weak. In

2024, the part-time employment represented only

3.3% (

222

), with women reaching higher rates than

men (5% vs 1.8% men). Employers are often not

willing to create short-term work contracts due to

high taxation of part-time work compared to other

EU countries; often part-time is involuntary not

ensuring basic living cost.

Slovakia’s population is ageing rapidly,

posing a challenge to the country’s

competitiveness.

The population has been

decreasing since 2020 (

223

). Additionally, between

2019 and 2050, the old-age dependency ratio of

Slovakia is projected to increase at a particularly

rapid pace, with the rate in 2050 projected to be

2.2 times that of 2019 (

224

). This is in part driven

by the structural emigration of young people. This

increases regional disparities and aggravates the

shortage of skilled labour, especially in sectors

such as healthcare and education, which are

already understaffed. Labour shortages, which are

set to continue, show the benefits of measures to

encourage people currently outside the labour

market into work.

Real wages rebounded in 2024, but the real

growth between 2022-2025 was one of the

lowest in the EU.

Real wages increased by 3.4%

(

221

) Gender Wage Gaps in Slovakia and Europe, Policy Brief

17/2024,

https://nbs.sk/dokument/3daf4133-e255-41f2-

b2f6-c4ca336a5c72/stiahnut?force=false

(

222

) Eurostat,

https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-

explained/index.php?title=Part-time_and_full-

time_employment_-_statistics

(

223

) Eurostat - Population change - Demographic balance and

crude rates at national level

(

224

) Eurostat -

https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-

explained/index.php?title=Ageing_Europe_-

_statistics_on_population_developments

(

220

) Social Scoreboard - Eurostat data

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

in 2024 and are forecast to increase by 0.7% in

2025, following significant losses in 2022 and

2023 (

225

). Real wage growth is constrained by

persistently high inflation, which is forecast to be

among the highest in the euro area. The loss of

purchasing power experienced by households

between 2021 and 2023 contributed to a

significant decline in real gross disposable

household income. The consolidation package that

took effect in January 2025 included an increase

in VAT rates, directly affecting consumers.

Graph A10.2:

Youth: in education and training,

employment rate, unemployment rate,

unemployment-to-population ratio, NEET

#REF!

average in 2024). It would be beneficial to bolster

efforts to meet Slovakia’s 2030 Digital Decade

targets. Slovakia’s 2030 target for basic digital

skills is below

that of the EU (70% vs 80% EU’s

target). In terms of the working population, the

proportion increased to 60.5% (aged 25 to 64),

although this is still below the EU level of 64.7%.

If businesses are to modernise their

production processes and service delivery it

would be beneficial to improve people’s

digital skills.

Slovakia lags behind in business

uptake of digital technologies (cloud, data

analytics and AI). This also applies to the

proportion of small and medium-sized enterprises

(SMEs) with at least a basic level of digital

intensity. ICT specialists in Slovakia make up 4.6%

of the working population in 2024 (vs 4.2% in

2023), slightly below the EU average of 5%. The

proportion of female ICT specialists is low (17.4%

vs EU average of 19.4%). To meet its target of 6%

of the population being ICT specialists by 2030

(the EU target is 10%), it would be helpful to

strengthen initiatives in this area.

Employment in Slovakia’s energy-intensive

industries decreased to 6.9% in 2024 of

employment (3.5% in the EU) but remains

among the highest in the EU.

Slovakia still has

the EU’s highest proportion of employment in the

automotive sector as a share of total

manufacturing (16.2% of employees in

manufacturing).

The

transition

towards

electromobility represents a major challenge for

the country. Moreover, the job-vacancy rate in

construction, a key sector for the green transition,

is substantially lower than the EU average (0.4%

vs 3.6% in EU in 2023). Moreover, 73% of SMEs in

the sector reported that skills shortages are

holding them back in general business activities

(

226

). According to the European Labour Authority

(

227

), labour shortages were reported in 2023 in

many occupations that required specific skills or

knowledge for the green transition (

228

), including

Source:

Eurostat, LFS [edat_lfse_18, lfsi_emp_a, une_rt_a,

lfsi_act_a, edat_lfse_20]

The workforce lacks digital skills and ICT

specialists, posing a challenge to the

transition towards electromobility.

The

employment rate of ICT specialists (percentage of

total employment) in Slovakia reached 4.6% in

2024 (vs EU: 5.0%). However, the proportion of

people with basic digital skills fell in 2023

compared to 2022. The share of individuals with

at least basic digital skills, fell from 55.2% in

2021 to 51.3% in 2023 (below 55.6% of EU

(

225

) For nominal wage growth, pay per employee is considered. It

includes: i) Wages and salaries payable in cash or in kind;

and ii) Social contributions payable by employers. For real

gross wages, the deflator used is HICP. Real wages using this

deflator then can differ from real wages shown in AMECO

(that uses private consumption as deflator). Data for 2024

and 2025 are based on the European Commission Autumn

2024 economic forecast.

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

2024

Unemployment rate (lhs)

NEET (lhs)

Employment rate (rhs)

Unemployment ratio (lhs)

In education, training (rhs)

(

226

) Eurobarometer on skills shortages, recruitment and retention

strategies in small and medium-sized enterprises.

(

227

) Based on the European Labour Authority 2024 EURES Report

on labour shortages and surpluses 2023, i.e. data submitted

by the EURES National Coordination Offices.

(

228

) Skills and knowledge requirements are based on the

European Skills Competences and Occupations (ESCO)

taxonomy on skills for the green transition.

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

building and related electricians,

workers and house builders.

insulation

Boosting digital skills helps older people

access the labour market and prevents long-

term unemployment.

Older people are more

likely to become long-term unemployed. In 2023,

74% of unemployed older individuals were long-

term unemployed, which is the highest rate in the

EU. Older people with lower levels of qualification

have worse labour market outcomes and more

challenging working conditions. In 2023, EU-27

figures for employment among older individuals

with lower educational qualifications was 27.6 pps

below those with post-secondary education,

whereas in Slovakia the difference was more than

40 pps. Education and training policies

–

ideally

including search assistance and counselling

–

are

among the most effective tools for promoting the

employment of older workers.

In Slovakia the rate of transition from

unemployment to employment is much lower

(below 10% per quarter) than in countries

with high training levels (transition rate

above 30%).

Boosting the capacity of public

employment services would be beneficial in this

context. Digital skills can help people obtain jobs.

Given the limited digital skills of older adults and

the increasing importance of digital tools

(especially since the COVID-19 pandemic),

Slovakia has enacted policies to improve the

digital skills of older people, supported by the

digital decade policy programme, with funding

from the Recovery and Resilience Facility.

Bogus self-employment remains high.

The

following factors increase the risk of in-work

poverty: being self-employed, having lower

educational qualifications, working part-time or on

a temporary contract living in a household with

low work intensity (

229

) and living with children. The

rate of full-time workers in Slovakia increased

from 4.2% in 2019 to 9.3% in 2023, indicating a

rise in the proportion of vulnerable workers. In

contrast, the in-work poverty rate of part-time

workers decreased from 16.4% in 2017 to 3.2% in

2023. However, the positive effect of this

(

229

) The work intensity of a household is the ratio of the total

number of months that all working-age household members

have worked during the income

reference year

and the total

number of months the same household members

theoretically could have worked in the same period.

improvement remains limited since Slovakia has

one of the lowest proportions of part-time workers

(3.3% in 2023) in the EU (17.1% in 2023).

Additionally, Slovakia’s high proportion of

dependent self-employed people creates a

significant risk of poor working conditions and

bogus self-employment.

Slovakia has the EU’s

highest proportion of self-employed people who

display both characteristics of dependency

(economic and organisational). Self-employed

people can opt out from social contribution

schemes and pay six times less in tax and social

contributions for the first year of activity and 2.3

times less for subsequent years compared to other

workers, which has a significant impact on the

state’s taxation and social security revenue. The

main causes of bogus self-employment are: i) the

desire of firms to circumvent the legal obligations

of dependent employment relationships (e.g.

minimum wages, working time legislation,

redundancy protection), ii) the gap in taxation

between the employment and self-employment, iii)

the rise in gig and platform work, iv) complex sub-

contracting chains and v) the lack of a legal clear

distinction between employment and self-

employment.

Graph A10.3:

Employment by type (permanent,

temporary, self-employed), year-on-year changes

150

ths

100

-50

-100

-150

-200

(1) Employment (thousand), total, ages 20-64, year-on-year

change based on non-seasonally adjusted data. Self

employment is defined as the total of self-employed persons

and contributing family workers..

Source:

Eurostat, LFS [lfsq_egaps, lfsq_etgaed]

2007-Q4

2008-Q4

2009-Q4

2010-Q4

2011-Q4

2012-Q4

2013-Q4

2014-Q4

2015-Q4

2016-Q4

2017-Q4

2018-Q4

2019-Q4

2020-Q4

2021-Q4

2022-Q4

2023-Q4

2024-Q4

Permanent employees

Self employment

Temporary employees

Overall

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

ANNEX 11: SOCIAL POLICIES

Despite overall good social conditions in

Slovakia, the risks of poverty and social

exclusion have been increasing almost

among all age groups since 2020.

Significant

challenges remain for the social inclusion of Roma

and other vulnerable groups. Sustained efforts are

needed to reach the national poverty reduction

target by 2030.

The rate of poverty and social exclusion

remains below the EU average, but

challenges persist.

Although the at-risk-of-

poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) rate increased

to 18.3% in 2024 (from 17.6% in 2023), it

remains below the EU average (21% in 2024).

However, the share of people living in severe

material and social deprivation (SMSD) increased

to 7%, exceeding the EU average (6.8% in 2023).

This was partly driven by persistently high inflation

in Slovakia. The AROPE rate for people aged sixty-

five years or over rose by 2.1 pps, reaching 14% in

2023. The depth of poverty is very high (29.9% vs

EU: 23%) and in-work poverty increased by almost

2 pps between 2022 and 2023 (from 7.2% to

9.1%, compared to 8.3% in the EU). Mounting

challenges related to poverty and social exclusion

remain due to limited economic opportunities for

underrepresented groups (long-term unemployed,

marginalised Roma communities, young people,

mothers with young children), coupled with

restricted

access

health,

education,

employment, and social services. By 2030,

Slovakia aims to reduce the number of people

experiencing poverty or social exclusion risks by at

least 70 000 compared to the 2019 level.

However, in 2023, Slovakia moved away from its

target with 148 000 more people at-risk-of-

poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) compared to

2019.

The risk of poverty or social exclusion among

the children show a positive decrease but

remain relatively high.

The AROPE rate for

children decreased from 25.3% in 2023 to 22.6%

in 2024 (EU: 24.2%). By 2030, Slovakia aims to

have reduced the number of children who

experience poverty or social exclusion by 21 000

compared to 207 000 in 2019. To mitigate the

impact of poverty on children, Slovakia is

implementing the European Child Guarantee (ECG).

The 2024 implementation report shows progress

in some areas, such as access to school meals.

The number of children benefiting from the food

subsidy scheme (provision of meals) sharply

increased from 56 786 to 491 494 in 2023 (

230

Quality early childhood education and care for

children under three would be beneficial to

enhance their educational outcomes and

incentivise parents to return to work. The

implementation of the ECG is supported by the EU

cohesion policy funds and the Recovery and

Resilience Facility.

House prices have increased strongly over

the last decade, but the growth in house

prices has slowed down recently.

Since 2015,

house prices have increased by around 70% in

nominal terms. On average, house prices

decreased by 0.2% in 2023, but more recent

quarterly data show a rise of 4.0% in Q2-2024

year-on-year. The recent moderation follows years

of noticeable growth and is driven by the

adjustment to the higher interest rate

environment, as mortgage rates sharply rose from

1.0% in 2021 to 3.8% in 2023. Nonetheless,

house prices are estimated to be overvalued by

10-15%. Building permits fell by a further 3.9% in

2023, following a sharp drop of 16.2% in 2022.

Overall housing affordability worsened over

the past decade despite an increase in new

housing supply

Since 2015, house prices have

grown slightly above the pace of household’s

incomes. As a result, there are major concerns

over the affordability of housing. The standardised

house price-to-income ratio increased by 28%

from 2015 to 2022 before easing in 2023, with

the overall growth from 2015 to 2023 reaching

7%. Taking into account the cost of mortgages, the

borrowing capacity of households improved over

the past decade. The ratio of dwellings per capita

has remained broadly unchanged since 2015 and

is the lowest in the EU. The ratio of house

completions per capita has increased gradually

since 2015 and stands close to the EU average.

However, residential construction has been

decreasing since 2023. Granted residential

building permits have been decreasing as well and

in terms of m2 per person attains one of the

lowest values

in the EU. Slovakia’s inefficient

permitting

procedures,

driven

high

administrative fragmentation and inadequate

resources at the municipal level, weigh on new

housing supply. Additionally, there is a significant

(

230

) Slovakia - 2024 Biennial report on the implementation of

the Child Guarantee.

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

number of vacant dwellings, further reduces the

supply of dwelling available for purchase. The

supply of social rental housing is very low

compared to the other EU average and the share

of population in need.

The challenges related to the affordability of

housing, the shortage of social rental

housing and the inadequacy of housing

allowances require more targeted support.

Slovakia struggles with the affordability of

housing (

231

). The housing cost overburden (

232

)

increased significantly - from 2.5% in 2022 to

5.9% in 2023 and 6.4% in 2024. It was much

higher among households experiencing poverty

risks (34.1% vs EU: 33.5%). In 2023, 36.1% of

people who live in rented housing (both at market

prices and subsidised prices) lived below the

poverty threshold, compared to 13.1% of people

living in owner-occupied housing, and 14.1% of

the total population (

233

). The municipal rental

housing stock is very low. Only 1.6% (

234

) of the

total housing stock is allocated as social housing.

In 2022, only 1.1% of all newly constructed

apartment buildings were in public ownership (

235

Slovakia has one of the highest shares of owner-

occupied housing, with 93.5% of the population

living in owner-occupied housing, compared to the

EU average of 69.2% in 2023. The government

does not engage in building or purchasing rental

flats, but is responsible for the general framework

and support mechanisms of the rental housing

system. Municipalities are responsible for

developing social housing for rent; however, they

encounter challenges, such as a lack of available

land for development and bureaucratic obstacles

in applying for support. The reform of the Public

Procurement Act under Slovakia’s recovery and

resilience plan (RRP), which entered into force in

2022, should speed up procurement procedures.

(

231

) Deloitte Property Index (Deloitte, 2024), developments in

European reside ntial markets.

(

232

) The housing cost overburden rate measures housing

affordability as the percentage of the population living in

households where the total housing costs (‘net’ of housing

allowances) represent more than 40% of disposable income

(‘net’ of housing allowances).

(

233

) DG EMPL ad hoc request for study to the Expert Network for

Analytical Support in Social Policies, Social housing and

housing affordability.

(

234

)

Eurostat 2022, Distribution of population by tenure

status, type of household and income group - EU-SILC

(

235

) Amnesty International (2024): Unattainable right to housing.

Report on right to housing in Slovakia. Bratislava.

Moreover, in January 2025, the government

approved a directive which amended the

conditions for people applying to rent social

housing. It also speeds up the approval of housing

projects destined for rent (

236

). The requirement to

have no debts to access social housing hampers

access to social housing for the most deprived

people. Housing allowances in Slovakia are rather

low (

237

) and provided solely to low-income

homeowners and tenants who qualify for ‘material

need’ assistance

(

238

There are significant challenges in accessing

social protections

for Slovakia’s non-

standard workers and self-employed.

The

country has a lower proportion of temporary

contract workers (4.4% vs EU: 13.5%) and part-

time employees (3.8% vs EU: 18.6%), but a higher

percentage of self-employed (12.3% vs EU: 9.4%).

Within this group, a significant share is

economically dependent (17% vs EU: 4%).

Employees on ‘work agreements with irregular

income’ face significant gaps in access to

unemployment, sickness, and parental benefits,

with negligible take-up (0.1% in 2022). Self-

employed people are not covered by accident

benefits and opt-in for limited unemployment

(2.0% take-up) and other benefits including

sickness and old-age insurance, with a take-up of

58.8% (

239

) for those above a specific income

threshold. The effective access to social benefits

is low, with self-employed people receiving

benefits at 4.5% compared to the EU average of

12.7%, and only 10.2% of unemployed people

receiving benefits vs 52.4% in the EU. Short-term

unemployed benefits are also lacking, with only

30% receiving benefits, standing well below the

EU average of 58%. Unemployed and temporary

contract workers face high deprivation and

poverty, with 45.7% and 53% respectively, which

for the unemployed exceeds the EU averages of

38.3% and 47.5%. Temporary workers show a

(

236

)

Vláda spresnila podmienky pre záujemcov o štátne

nájomné

byty, cieľom je zefektívniť ich prideľovanie aj eliminovať

prieťahy

- SITA Reality

(

237

) The housing allowance is intended to partially cover housing-

related costs and is provided in amounts depending on the

number of household members.

(

238

) In-Depth Review 2024 Slovakia.

(

239

) Take up of 58.8% of self-employed meaning persons who

opt-in (voluntary) or did not opt-out on sickness and pension

insurance. Majority of these persons did not opt-out,

meaning they were above income threshold.

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

23.9% deprivation rate. Furthermore, the at-risk-

of-poverty rate among quasi-jobless households in

Slovakia stood at 74.2% in 2023, compared to

61.2% in the EU-27.

Racial prejudices limit access to social

housing

for

the marginalised

Roma

population.

Not meeting minimum income

requirements is the most frequently cited reason

for rejecting social housing applications. This

hinders the social inclusion of the Roma population

in particular. The approach taken by the capital

city, Bratislava, is an example of sound housing

policy and could be scaled up to national level.

Bratislava established a strategy to increase the

supply of social housing for rent. Bratislava’s

social housing policy is inclusive and open to all

people in need. These new rules were approved in

2024. Bratislava introduced new categories of

state-owned

flats including ‘accessible housing

with support’, aimed at the most vulnerable

groups. The housing stock in Slovakia is energy

inefficient. Yet, renovation programmes are

planned. New measures and investments to

support vulnerable households will be compiled in

the national Social Climate Plan, which is to be

submitted to the Commission by June 2025,

following a country-wide consultation.

Graph A9.1:

At-risk-of-poverty or social exclusion

rate and its components (AROP, AROPE, SMSD,

LWI)

% of

population

2015

2017

2016

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

At-risk-of-poverty-or-social-exclusion rate

At-risk-of-poverty rate

Severe material and social deprivation

People living in low work intensity households

(1) AROPE: at-risk-of-poverty or social exclusion rate (% of

total population). People wo are at-risk-or-poverty (AROP)

and/or suffering from severe material and social deprivation

(SMSD) and/or living in households with very low work

intensity (LWI).

Source:

Eurostat, EU-SILC

Policies addressing energy poverty remain

limited and insufficiently address its

structural causes.

The share of the population

which is unable to keep their homes sufficiently

warm is lower than EU average, 8.1% compared to

the EU average of 10.6% in 2023. This marks an

improvement of 2.5 pps since 2021. Arrears on

utility bills have increased, by 7.2% of individuals

affected in 2023, an increase of 1.7 pps from

2021, standing higher than the EU average of

6.9%. Structural issues, such as leaks, damp, or

rot, are present in 5.8% of housing, which is

significantly lower than the EU average of 15.5%.

The government has implemented several social

support programmes which complement energy

efficiency initiatives, such as the MunSEFF and

SlovSEFF programmes. These programmes provide

financial assistance to energy efficiency projects in

municipalities and residential buildings. The

government’s actions to address energy poverty

do not address the structural causes of energy

poverty. However, a national action plan to

address energy poverty is being prepared. The

strategy aims to further integrate measures

targeting vulnerable households and improve the

overall energy efficiency of the housing stock. In

2024

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

respect to transport poverty, the share of people

who could not afford a car was 10.5% in 2023,

above the EU average of 5.6%. The issue becomes

alarming among low-income groups in Slovakia, as

evidenced by the higher share of people at risk of

poverty who cannot afford a car (32.4%) which is

significantly above the EU average (15.9%). The

fact that low-income people have difficulties to

afford a car in Slovakia is confirmed by the low

share of individuals at-risk of poverty with very

high expenditures on personal transport fuels

(defined twice above the national median) which is

at 10.4%, and it is significantly below the EU

average of 18.2% in 2024. At the same time,

people’s reliance on personal cars for inland

transport has increased over-time (from 77.4% in

2011 to 79% in 2023).

Access to healthcare and long-term care

services shows improvement but remains

limited for vulnerable groups.

In 2024, 1.6% of

the population reported to have some unmet need

for medical care because of cost, distance or

waiting times. This figure dropped below the EU

average (2.5%) (see Annex 14) (

240

), but challenges

persist. The mortality rate among infants (5.6% in

2023) remains among the highest in the EU (3.3%

in 2023). The unmet medical needs were reported

by 5.3% of people in the lowest income quintile

compared with 2.2% among the highest income

quintile (

241

). The situation is similar in terms of

unmet needs in the long-term care sector, where

the population over sixty-five reporting unmet

needs in 2019 was 50.9% (EU:46.6%). Slovakia

has some of the highest rates of mortality from

preventable and treatable causes in the EU (

242

Similarly, the cancer incidence in Slovakia is higher

than the average across the EU and the mortality

rate remains among the highest in the EU (

243

). A

substantial number of deaths could be avoided in

Slovakia through public health, prevention and

healthcare interventions.

Rural and minority populations face the

biggest obstacles in accessing healthcare,

including the marginalised Roma community.

Almost one-fifth of adult homeless people who

live in Bratislava, do not have a general

practitioner (

244

). Debts on health insurance

contributions are the most common forms of debt

among the homeless population in Bratislava,

affecting 22% of adult homeless people. In the

2021 census, the country specifically identified the

secondary homeless, who are defined as

‘residents

who

use various types

of temporary

accommodation and often move between

accommodation, such as a shelter, a halfway

house, an emergency housing facility, or reside in

non-conventional housing.’ Latest national

estimates of homelessness stand at 71 076

people, representing 1.31% of the total population

(2021), of which 39% are women and 61% are

men (

245

Slovakia’s healthcare and long-term

care

services continue to be underfunded.

The

ageing and declining population pose challenges to

the sustainability of the healthcare and long-term

care systems (see Annex 14). The RRP’s reform of

integration and financing of long-term social and

healthcare introduces a new financing system of

social services

–

a personal budget that should

replace a large number of different contributions.

Nevertheless, its entry into force might be

postponed with one year, creating a pressure for

finding the necessary funds in the state budget.

(

240

) OECD/European Commission, 2024: OECD Health at a

Glance: Europe 2024. State of Health in the EU Cycle. Paris:

OECD Publishing.

(

241

) Ibidem.

(

242

) State of Health in the EU Country Health Profile 2023,

chrome-

extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://health.

ec.europa.eu/document/download/184d09e2-917b-4d9a-

9078-

a4a503e0e053_nl?filename=2023_chp_sk_english.pdf

(

243

) Country Cancer Profile 2025,

https://www.oecd.org/content/dam/oecd/en/publications/repor

ts/2025/02/eu-country-cancer-profile-slovak-republic-

2025_f32af3fd/e40472f4-en.pdf

(

244

)

Kválová, D., Turkovič, Z., Gerbery, D., Mičicová-Luptáková,

M.,

2024: Záverečná správa zo sčítania ľudí bez domova v

Bratislave v 2023 (Final report on counting homeless people

in Bratislava in 2023). Bratislava: Institute for Labour and

Family Research.

(

245

)

OECD Country Notes on Homelessness data.

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

ANNEX 12: EDUCATION AND SKILLS

A low enrolment rate in early childhood

education and care (ECEC), a low proficiency

of basic skills among students and adults, a

low number of STEM graduates and skill

mismatches in the labour market limit

Slovakia’s competitiveness.

Weaknesses in

skills development start at a very early age with

low participation of disadvantaged children in

quality ECEC and continue with around one third of

15-year-old students lacking a minimum level of

proficiency in basic skills (mathematics, reading

and science). Enrolment in STEM-related study

programmes (

246

) is low and trending downwards.

Enrolment in adult learning has increased,

but varies greatly across population groups.

Adults’ level of proficiency in literacy, numeracy

and problem solving declined between 2012-

2023. Support for strengthening basic skills

among pupils and for training for less qualified

adults is essential to match the demand and

supply of skills in the labour market. Moreover, a

shortage of qualified teachers continues, and

pupils’ socio-economic

backgrounds significantly

and negatively affects their upskilling and

employment opportunities later. The quality of

vocational education and training (VET) should

also be improved, for example by increasing

pupils’ exposure to work-based

learning.

A low enrolment rate in ECEC, especially

among disadvantaged children, negatively

impacts foundational learning giving rise to

inequalities.

The participation rate of children

under three years of age increased to 5.1% in

2024 but remains among the lowest in the EU

(average of 39.2%) in 2024 (see Annex 10). For

children aged three or over, the enrolment rate in

ECEC was 80.8% in 2023, compared to the EU

average of 94.6% (

247

). Recent national data

showed that the enrolment rate of 3 to 5-year

olds was 85.3% in 2023. However, enrolment is

lower among children from disadvantaged

backgrounds (

), including for Roma children (33%

in 2021, Fundamental Rights Agency). Under

Slovakia’s recovery and resilience plan (RRP),

substantial investments are being made to

improve access to ECEC for children older than

three.

Insufficient basic skills among students is

the main barrier to skills development later

in life.

In 2022, 33.2% of students

underperformed in mathematics, 35.4% in reading

and 30.6% in science (EU averages: 29.5%, 26.2%

and 24.2% respectively), which are among the

highest underachievement rates in the EU. Results

differ greatly between rural and urban schools.

Their performance gap in reading, mathematics

and science is also among the highest in the EU,

suggesting challenges linked to teaching quality

and socio-economic aspects. A recent report from

the State school inspectorate shows that

memorisation is the most frequently developed

cognitive ability in Slovak schools and points to

alarming levels of absenteeism among pupils (

248

The report also notes that teaching is sometimes

provided by unqualified teachers (for example, ICT

was taught by unqualified teachers in 48.6% of

the surveyed lower secondary schools in

2023/2024).

Most

students

from

disadvantaged

backgrounds lack basic skills.

More than six out

of 10 students from disadvantaged socio-

economic backgrounds did not achieve a minimum

level of proficiency in mathematics (62.6% vs EU

average of 48%, OECD Programme for

International Student Assessment (PISA) 2022).

This is particularly concerning in the context of the

rising share of children living in severe material

and social deprivation (

249

). Around 65% of Roma

children aged 6-15 study in schools where most or

all their schoolmates are Roma (FRA, 2021). In

2023, the Commission referred Slovakia to the

Court of Justice of the European Union for failing

to effectively address the issue, thereby breaching

the Racial Equality Directive.

Slovakia has increased efforts to reduce

segregation.

The State

school inspectorate’s

report (

250

) pointed out persistent challenges linked

to the slow implementation of inclusive education

despite policy efforts. The Ministry of Education is

implementing

national

projects (

251

)

and

monitoring the implementation of desegregation

(

248

)

Správa o stave a úrovni v�½chovy a vzdelávania v školách a

školsk�½ch zariadeniach v Slovenskej republike v školskom

roku.

(

249

) Eurostat: [ilc_mdsd11].

(

246

) Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics.

(

247

) Eurostat: educ_uoe_enra21.

(

250

) Based on findings in 11 inclusive primary schools in 2024.

(

251

)

‘Opportunity for all’, ‘Support

for Educational Opportunities’

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

measures at schools. It also plans to evaluate the

implementation of ‘desegregation standards’ in

2025. Overcoming inequalities in primary and

secondary education is key to increasing

enrolment in higher education and to reducing the

number of adults who lack the necessary skills to

participate in lifelong learning.

Graph A12.1:

Early school leavers, not in

education, employment or training (NEET) and

tertiary attainment

Slovakia is rolling out a reform of the school

curriculum, the success of which will depend

on how teachers are prepared and supported

in implementing it.

The reform will be fully

implemented in the 2026/2027 school year. The

Ministry of Education also announced a package of

measures to improve education (‘Velvet

revolution in education,’ 2024). However, the

shortage of teachers and increasing demands can

hinder their effective implementation. It is

estimated that in the next school year there will be

a shortage of around 2 000 teachers, in particular

maths, science and IT teachers. This poses a risk to

the ability to provide quality STEM education and

subsequently foster interest among students in

pursuing STEM-related higher education (

252

The low attractiveness of the profession,

the quality of the degree programmes for

teachers and in-service training affects the

quality of education.

More effective and better

targeted support for teachers and improved

pedagogical approaches are needed to boost basic

skills. Reading literacy could be improved for

example by better promoting pre-reading literacy

in preschool, mainstreaming reading literacy

teaching across subjects and providing targeted

learning support to children from vulnerable

groups or to those who are lagging behind. Also,

additional support to the extracurricular activities

could strengthen basic and STEM-related skills.

Low level of basic skills continues in

adulthood.

In 2023, the PIIAC survey of adult

skills recorded substantial age-related skills losses

among adults (including young adults aged 27-34)

in literacy. 24% of the Slovak adults can

understand only short and simple sentences.

Slovak adults are below the OECD average in all

three skills measured: literacy, numeracy, adaptive

problem solving. 36% of workers hold their highest

qualification not in the field which is most relevant

to their job. Over half of businesses in Slovakia

reported that their workforce has some degree of

skill gap (54%) (

253

Slovakia has a relatively large vocational

education and training (VET) offer, but its

(

252

) https://www.edujobs.sk/praca.

(

253

) OECD (2024),

PIAAC Employer Module, Do Adults Have the

Skills They Need to Thrive in a Changing World?: Survey of

Adult Skills 2023, OECD Skills Studies,

OECD Publishing, Paris,

p. 175.

Source:

Eurostat, LFS

[edat_lfse_14,edat_lfse_20,edat_lfse_07]

Increasing the share of top performers in

basic skills and performance would

strengthen the pool for innovative talent.

Top

performance among 15-year-olds declined and it

is well below the EU average (9.5% vs 12.59%) in

all three basic skills domains. In reading, it is

among the lowest in the EU (3.4% vs EU average

of 6.5%). Slovak pupils were also weaker in

creative thinking, with a top performance rate of

21% (vs EU-23 average of 25.1% in 2022.)

Widespread innovative testing in Slovakia

confirmed the worsening of key competences in

basic schools (FinQ, 2023), including among

children aged 6-10. Students’

basic skills may

deteriorate further in the future if no action is

taken. Slovakia’s declining performance in PISA

2022 can be partially attributed to the long-term

underfunding of the education system and school

closures during the pandemic, but teacher

shortages and low attractiveness of the teaching

profession also play a part.

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

2024

Tertiary education 30-34 (rhs)

NEET 15-24 (lhs)

Early school leavers 18-24 (lhs)

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

potential for the labour market is not fully

exploited.

In 2023, 43% of 15-19-year-olds were

enrolled in secondary VET. Half of 25-34-year-olds

have a VET qualification as their highest level of

attainment (EU average: 60% in 2022 (

254

). In

2023, almost eight out of 10 (76.5%) of recent

VET graduates were in employment, below the EU

average of 81%. On average, VET graduates earn

about 12% more than those without upper

secondary education attainment, whereas workers

with finished general secondary attainment earn

13% more. Nevertheless, Slovakia lags in exposing

students to work-based learning (62.1% vs EU

average of 64.5%). Improving the quality of

curricula and teaching, and ensuring more flexible

entry paths for professionals into VET teaching

profession would address skills mismatches.

The European Social Fund Plus (ESF+)

supports improvements in VET.

In 2024, the

Ministry of Education launched a national project

aiming to increase the quality, flexibility and

adaptability of VET and introducing regional

quality coordinators (EUR 7 million). The project

also develops a national strategy for quality

assurance and plans to publish an impact analysis

in 2026..

Tertiary education struggles to supply the

skills needed by the economy.

The RRP

supports reforms aimed at improving the quality

of higher education. For example in 2024, in total

EUR 80.4 million was allocated to universities,

linked to their performance on 14 specific

indicators. Only 37.2% of Slovaks aged 25-34 had

a tertiary education degree in 2024 (EU average:

44.2%). The share of students enrolled in STEM

programmes (21.8%) was significantly lower than

the EU average (27.1%) in 2022, and had

decreased compared to 2017 (22.8%). Around

38.8% of all medium-level VET pupils were

enrolled in medium-level VET STEM fields in 2022

(EU-27 average: 36.2%). The number of PhD

students in STEM studies decreased between 2017

and 2022 (

255

), although, as a share of total

International Standard Classification of Education

(ISCED) level 5-8 enrolments, the share of enrolled

students in STEM remained the same

(1.7%). Between 2010 and 2023, the number of

STEM graduates declined in Slovakia by 46%. The

(

254

) Eurostat, UOE, OECD and additional collection for the other

EHEA countries

( ) educ_uoe_entr03_custom_15132925.

255

low number of enrolments in STEM studies is

linked to challenges at school level. In 2023, only

11.6% of graduates decided on mathematics in

the Matura final examination.

Addressing gender gaps helps to increase the

enrolment in STEM studies.

In 2022, the share

of male STEM enrolments (as a share of total

ISCED 5-8 enrolments) was 15.2% in Slovakia (EU-

27 average: 18.5%). The share of female ISCED 5-

-8 enrolments was only 6.6% (EU-27 average:

8.6%). The share of females in ICT enrolments

(ISCED 5-8) was among the lowest in the EU

(15.1% in Slovakia vs 20.2% in the EU) in 2022.

The proportion of graduates in ICT (4.8%) was

slightly higher in Slovakia than the EU average

(4.5%) in 2022 (DESI, 2024). However, only 0.8%

of Slovak females graduate in ICT (EU: 1%).

Support for teachers to develop learning tools,

video tutorials and innovative approaches,

including using artificial intelligence, could help

boost participation in STEM in Slovakia. Updating

secondary school curricula and introducing

additional support (human and financial resources)

to the extracurricular activities (in maths, reading,

STEM and digital competences) would improve

motivation and quality.

There is scope to substantially improve green

competencies and skills.

Slovak students’

knowledge of sustainable development issues is

below the average of the 17 EU countries

surveyed, and the difference in students’

knowledge in this area when linked to parental

educational background is the highest in the

EU-17. Although school leaders have a key role in

including sustainability in school practice, there are

no specific provisions supporting their leadership in

relation to sustainability.

Graph A12.2:

Change in the number of students

enrolled in tertiary education and in STEM fields

(ISCED 5-8) in Slovakia, 2017-2023

Number of students enrolled by area of

study

140.000

20.000

120.000

100.000

80.000

15.000

10.000

60.000

40.000

20.000

5.000

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

Engineering

ICT

Students enrolled in tertiary education

Natural science

Source:

Eurostat: educ_uoe_enrt03

Overall number of students enrolled in

tertiary education

25.000

160.000

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

Training is crucial to address the shortages

of skilled workers and to improve

competitiveness, resilience and fairness.

68%

of Slovak SMEs in 2023 reported that it was very

difficult to find qualified employees (EU average:

52%). Similarly, 42% of SMEs (EU average: 21%)

said that keeping qualified employees was very

difficult. ESF+ funding for labour market

development and skills forecasting is managed by

the Alliance of Sectoral Councils, comprising 25

sectoral councils, which cover the main industries

and prepare the national employment standards.

The Public Employment Service supports reskilling

necessary for the labour market of young people

(and other job seekers) not in employment,

education or training. While most SMEs do not

expect skills shortages to affect their ability to use

IT technologies in their operations (81% vs EU

average of 75%), they report an increased

workload for existing staff, loss of sales and

reduced profitability and growth due to skill

shortages.

Digital skills still need to be significantly

strengthened.

The proportion of Slovaks aged 16

to 74 who have at least basic digital skills

(51.31% in 2023) is below the EU average

(55.56%). Yet, 70.58% of young Slovaks aged 16

to 24 have at least basic digital skills, which is in

line with the EU average. The share of students

enrolled in ICT in Slovakia in 2022 was 5.7% of

the total tertiary enrolments (EU average: 5.2%).

Despite ongoing digitalisation of schools, the level

of remote access to the school network from

home is among the lowest in the EU (3% in

Slovakia vs EU average at 18%). Moreover, Slovak

students’ performance in computer and

information literacy significantly decreased in

2023 in comparison to 2013 (by 19 points) as

measured by the 2023 International Computer and

Information Literacy Study (

256

). The 2024 report

also highlights the need to support teachers’

digital skills and promote pupils’

access to

distance learning.

Participation in adult learning is relatively

high, but challenges persist for specific

population groups.

The rate of adults

participating in training reached 49.5% in 2022

(compared to 42.6% in 2016), coming close to the

2030 national target of 50% and remaining above

(

256

) Study conducted by the International Association for the

Evaluation of Educational Achievement, 2023.

the EU average (39.5%). At the same time,

participation rates vary significantly across

population groups and sectors. People outside the

labour market (10%), the unemployed (10.5%) and

those who did not complete upper secondary

education (18.6%) show much lower engagement

rates. On the other hand, employees’ participation

in education and training in energy-intensive

industries was 13.82% in 2024 (EU average:

11.67%).

Slovakia adopted a new law on adult

education and an action plan for 2025-2027.

It promotes a personalised approach to adult

learning and introduces new elements, such as

individual learning accounts and validation of

previous learning outcomes. However, the law

does not allow for entitlements to be transferred

between financial years and does not provide for

paid training leave, contrary to the Council

recommendation on individual learning accounts.

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

ANNEX 13: SOCIAL SCOREBOARD

Table A13.1:Social

Scoreboard for Slovakia

Adult participation in learning (during the last 12 months, excl. guided on

the job training, % of the population aged 25-64, 2022)

Early leavers from education and training

(% of the population aged 18-24, 2024)

Equal opportunities and

access to the labour market

Share of individuals who have basic or above basic overall digital skills

(% of the population aged 16-74, 2023)

Young people not in employment, education or training

(% of the population aged 15-29, 2024)

Gender employment gap

(percentage points, population aged 20-64, 2024)

Income quintile ratio

(S80/S20, 2024)

Employment rate

(% of the population aged 20-64, 2024)

Dynamic labour markets

and fair workingconditions

Unemployment rate

(% of the active population aged 15-74, 2024)

Long term unemployment

(% of the active population aged 15-74, 2024)

Gross disposable household income (GDHI) per capita growth

(index, 2008=100, 2023)

At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) rate

(% of the total population, 2024)

At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) rate for children

(% of the population aged 0-17, 2024)

Impact of social transfers (other than pensions) on poverty reduction

(% reduction of AROP, 2024)

Social protection and

inclusion

Disability employment gap

(percentage points, population aged 20-64, 2024)

Housing cost overburden

(% of the total population, 2024)

Children aged less than 3 years in formal childcare

(% of the under 3-years-old population, 2024)

Self-reported unmet need for medical care

(% of the population aged 16+, 2024)

Critical situation

To watch

Weak but improving Good but to monitor

On average

Better than average

Best performers

49.5

7.5

51.3

10.7

8.9

3.28

78.1

5.3

3.5

127.5

18.3

22.6

36.7

23.8

6.4

5.1

1.6

(1) Update of 5 May 2025. Members States are categorised based on the Social Scoreboard according to a methodology agreed

with the EMCO and SPC Committees. Please consult the Annex of the Joint Employment Report 2025 for details on the

methodology (https://employment-social-affairs.ec.europa.eu/joint-employment-report-2025-0).

Source:

Eurostat

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

ANNEX 14: HEALTH AND HEALTH SYSTEMS

Slovakia’s health system faces significant

challenges that need be addressed if the

country is to improve the health of its

population and social fairness, while

boosting the competitiveness of its economy.

Key challenges include: (i) low life expectancy,

linked to high treatable and preventable mortality;

(ii) suboptimal funding and cost-effectiveness of

the health system; (iii) an insufficient focus on

disease prevention; and (iv) shortages of health

workers.

Life expectancy at birth in Slovakia

rebounded above its pre-COVID-19 level but

was still among the lowest in the EU in 2023.

Moreover, there are striking gender gaps in health

outcomes. Women can expect to live 6.6 years

longer than men. That said, they can only expect to

live 1.4 years longer than men in good health.

Treatable mortality is one of the highest in the EU,

suggesting shortcomings in the effectiveness of

the health system. Diseases of the circulatory

system (‘cardiovascular diseases’) and

cancer

remain the leading causes of death, with mortality

rates higher than the EU average.

Graph A14.1:

Life expectancy at birth, years

81.3

77.8

(EU average: 0.3%). The number of potential

productive life years lost due to non-

communicable diseases such as cancer and

cardiovascular diseases is higher than the EU

average (1 368 per 100 000 population vs

1 017) (

258

Graph A14.2:

Treatable mortality

per 100 000 population

206.0

165.4

91.3

163.6

89.2

168.8

91.7

93.3

176.1

89.7

2018

2019

2020

Slovakia

2021

2022

Age-standardised death rate

(mortality that could be

avoided through optimal quality healthcare)

Source:

Eurostat (hlth_cd_apr)

80.4

77.0

80.1

80.6

81.4

78.2

77.0

74.6

2019

2020

2021

Slovakia

2022

2023

Source:

Eurostat (demo_mlexpec)

The weak health outcomes negatively impact

Slovakia’s workforce, productivity and

competitiveness.

Mortality at working age as a

proportion of total mortality is significantly higher

in Slovakia than the EU average, exacerbating the

effects of population ageing on a shrinking labour

force. Cancer in particular has a major impact on

workforce participation and productivity (

257

Between 2022 and 2040, the population at

working age in Slovakia is forecast to shrink by

0.5% every year as a result of lower birth rates

(

257

) OECD/European Commission (2025),

EU Country Cancer

Profiles Synthesis Report.

Despite investment from EU funds in

healthcare quality and efficiency, Slovakia’s

healthcare system remains underfunded,

with limited cost-effectiveness.

Health

spending per inhabitant is one of the lowest in the

EU. Spending on outpatient care, inpatient care,

and retail pharmaceuticals and medical devices

each accounted for around 30% of total health

expenditure. Between 2016 and 2022, Slovakia

allocated an average of 0.31% of GDP to capital

spending in the health sector (lower than the EU

average of 0.48%) (

259

), which could account for

the low availability of key diagnostic technologies

(medical imaging). Due to an ageing population,

the projected increase in public healthcare

spending raises fiscal sustainability concerns for

Slovakia (see Annex 1). While the number of

hospital beds is higher than the EU average, the

occupancy rate remains low (59%) (

260

). Public

hospitals in Slovakia are facing financial issues,

including late payments and indebtedness (see

Annex 4). Reforms are under way in Slovakia to

improve the efficiency and quality of inpatient

healthcare by optimising the hospital network and

(

258

) Update to 2022 data of analysis presented by Health at a

Glance: Europe 2016.

(

259

) OECD/European Commission, see Health at a Glance Europe

2018, 2020, 2022 and 2024.

(

260

) OECD/European Commission (2024),

Health at a Glance:

Europe 2024 - State of Health in the EU Cycle,

p.201.

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

Table A14.1:Key

health indicators

2019

Cancer mortality per 100 000 population

Mortality due to circulatory diseases per 100 000 population

Current expenditure on health, purchasing power standards, per capita

Public share of health expenditure, % of current health expenditure

Spending on prevention, % of current health expenditure

Available hospital beds per 100 000 population**

Doctors per 1 000 population*

Nurses per 1 000 population*

Mortality at working age (20-64 years), % of total mortality

Number of patents (pharma / biotech / medical technology)

Total consumption of antibacterials for systemic use,

daily defined dose per 1 000 inhabitants****

293.3

567.8

1 519

79.8

0.8

495

3.6

n.a.

23.7

19.3

2020

301.8

607.1

1 593

80.3

1.0

488

3.7

n.a.

21.7

14.4

2021

275.1

641.2

1 850

79.7

1.6

488

3.7

5.7

22.2

16.0

2022

267.7

627.8

1 947

79.9

2.0

489

3.7

5.7

21.3

20.8

2023

n.a.

21.3

20.1

EU average*

(latest year)

234.7 (2022)

336.4 (2022)

3 684.6 (2022)

81.3 (2022)

5.5 (2022)

444 (2022)

4.2 (2022)*

7.6 (2022)*

14.3 (2023)

29 (2023)***

20.0 (2023)

*The EU average is weighted for all indicators except for doctors and nurses per 1 000 population, for which the EU simple

average is used based on 2022 (or latest 2021) data except for Luxembourg (2017). Doctors’ density data refer to practising

doctors in all countries except Greece, Portugal (licensed to practise) and Slovakia (professionally active). Density of nurses: data

refer to practising nurses (EU recognised qualification) in most countries except France and Slovakia (professionally active) and

Greece (hospital only). **‘Available hospital beds’ covers somatic care, not psychiatric care. ***The EU

median is used for patents.

Source:

Eurostat database; European Patent Office; ****European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) for 2023.

centralising the management of the largest

hospitals.

Out-of-pocket payments account for a

greater proportion of spending on health in

Slovakia than the EU average (19.3% vs

14.3%).

More than two thirds of all out-of-pocket

payments are for outpatient pharmaceuticals (

261

In 2024, Slovakia increased its public health

insurance budget by 11.5% compared to 2023. It

also introduced a health system financing

‘consolidation package’ to reduce the budget

deficit, by increasing taxes and contributions,

generating EUR 1.96 billion.

Under the Slovakian recovery and resilience

plan (RRP), around EUR 1.03 billion is planned

for

health

reforms

and

supporting

investments.

In addition, complementary funding

for healthcare (EUR 166 million) is planned under

the EU cohesion policy funds in 2021-2027, which

aim to improve health infrastructure and the

accessibility of health services for vulnerable and

socially disadvantaged groups.

As regards public health, Slovakia places

insufficient focus on disease prevention.

2022, spending on prevention accounted for 2.0%

of total spending on health in Slovakia, much

lower than the EU average. Preventable mortality

was high in 2022 (245 per 100 000 population)

but decreased by 6% since 2013. Slovakia is one

of the countries with the lowest rates of physical

activity among adults. The share of the population

that is overweight has been increasing over time,

(

261

)

Health at a Glance: Europe 2024,

pp. 186-187.

particularly among men (

262

). Flu vaccination rates

among older people were very low (6%) in

2021/2022 and declined sharply compared to pre-

pandemic levels (

263

). Screening rates for breast

cancer and cervical cancer were among the lowest

in the EU in 2022 (

264

). High levels of

hospitalisation for congestive heart failure and

diabetes suggest a lack of care coordination,

highlighting a need to strengthen primary care.

Under EU4Health, Slovakia is involved in the

EUCanScreen joint action (

265

) on cancer screening

and the CARE4DIABETES joint action aimed at

reducing the burden of diabetes (

266

). In 2023,

Slovakia’s government approved the general

outpatient care strategy that will run until 2030 to

improve access to primary care. Moreover, one of

the priorities of Slovakia’s RRP is to increase

access to mental healthcare by strengthening

community and outpatient mental health services.

Shortages of health workers limit the

availability of care.

For several years, the

density of doctors and nurses in Slovakia has been

below the EU average. Furthermore, in 2022, a

high share of the country’s nursing personnel was

aged between 55 and 64 (23.7%), and a low share

was aged between 25 and 34 (9.8%). This poses a

significant challenge to the health system and,

more broadly, the care system (see Annex 10).

Since 2025, the base salaries for selected

healthcare professionals have increased. Slovakia

(

262

)

Health at a Glance: Europe 2024,

Chapter 4.

(

263

)

Health at a Glance: Europe 2024,

pp. 214-215.

(

264

)

Health at a Glance: Europe 2024,

pp. 162-163.

(

265

)

EUCanScreen -

6η Υ.ΠΕ

(

266

)

Home - Care4Diabetes4JointAction

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

participates in the EU4Health-funded HEROES joint

action, through which EU countries share best

practices and expertise on health workforce

planning (

267

The Slovak health system’s potential to drive

innovation and foster industrial development

in the EU medical sector remains largely

untapped.

Slovakia is among the EU countries

that report the lowest levels of public spending on

health research and development. This is reflected

in the low number of European patents granted in

the combined areas of pharmaceuticals,

biotechnologies and medical devices (

268

). Clinical

trial activity in Slovakia is also limited (

269

Furthermore, the country is facing a growing

shortage of medicines.

Slovakia is also lagging behind in the uptake

of e-health and the overall digitalisation of

its health system.

In 2024, the shares of people

using online health services (excluding phone)

instead of in-person consultations (15.6%) and

accessing their personal health records online

(16.2%) were both below the EU average. The low

general level of digital literacy in Slovakia in 2023

(51.3% vs an EU average of 55.6%) may explain

the low uptake of digital tools by patients. Planned

investments under the RRP aim to boost the digital

transformation of Slovak hospitals. In addition,

Slovakia participates in the joint action TEHDAS2

(

270

) and receives direct grants under the

EU4Health

programme

facilitate

the

implementation of the European Health Data

Space.

(

267

)

JA HEROES | Health workforce planning project.

(

268

) European Patent Office,

Data to download | epo.org.

(

269

) EMA (2024),

Monitoring the European clinical trials

environment,

p. 9.

(

270

)

Second Joint Action Towards the European Health Data

Space

–

TEHDAS2 - Tehdas

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

HORIZONTAL

ANNEX 15: SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS

This Annex assesses Slovakia’s progress on

the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

along the dimensions of competitiveness,

sustainability,

social

fairness

and

macroeconomic stability.

The 17 SDGs and their

related indicators provide a policy framework

under the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable

Development. The aim is to end all forms of

poverty, fight inequalities and tackle climate

change and the environmental crisis, while

ensuring that no one is left behind. The EU and its

Member States are committed to this historic

global framework agreement and to playing an

active role in maximising progress on the SDGs.

The graph below is based on the EU SDG indicator

set developed to monitor progress on the SDGs in

the EU.

Slovakia is slightly improving on several SDG

indicators

competitiveness

(SDGs 4, 8 and 9), but needs to catch up with

the EU average.

At 1.03% of GDP in 2023, R&D

expenditure is significantly below the EU average

Graph A15.1:

Progress towards the SDGs in Slovakia

of 2.24% (SDG 9). This stifles innovation and

prevents Slovakia from boosting its productivity by

employing more technological solutions such as

artificial intelligence, digitalisation, automation,

cloud systems and other scientific and hi-tech

breakthroughs. Only 24 patent applications (per

million inhabitants) were submitted in 2024

compared to the EU average of 156. The share of

the population aged 25-34 completing tertiary

education, a crucial ingredient for raising the

proficiency, competitiveness, and technological

aptitude of the Slovak population, has dropped to

37.2% in 2024, far from the EU average of 44.2%

for this indicator. However, the proportion of adults

participating in learning is increasing, almost

catching up with the EU average. In 2024, 12.8%

of the Slovak adult population had attended an

education course in the previous 4 weeks,

compared to the EU average of 13.3% (SDG 4).

The share of households with a high-speed

internet connection increased from 45.5% in 2019

to 69.1% in 2023 (just below the EU average of

78.8%). Investment in digital infrastructure and

educational reforms, outlined in the recovery and

For detailed datasets on the various SDGs, see the annual Eurostat report ‘Sustainable

development in the European Union’;

for

details on extensive country-specific data on the short-term progress of Member States:

Key findings

–

Sustainable development

indicators - Eurostat (europa.eu).

A high status does not mean that a country is close to reaching a specific SDG, but signals that it

is doing better than the EU on average. The progress score is an absolute measure based on the indicator trends over the past

five years. The calculation does not take into account any target values, as most EU policy targets are only valid for the aggregate

EU level. Depending on data availability for each goal, not all 17 SDGs are shown for each country.

Source:

Eurostat, latest update of 28 April 2025. Data refer mainly to the period 2018-2023 or 2019-2024. Data on SDGs may

vary across the report and its annexes due to different cut-off dates.

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

resilience plan (RRP), should further improve long-

term productivity.

While Slovakia is improving on several SDG

indicators related to

sustainability

(SDG 7, 9,

11, 12, 13 and 15), it is moving away from

others (SDG 2, 6). Slovakia performs well on

SDGs 6, 11 and 15 but needs to catch up with

the EU average on SDGs 2, 7, 9, 12 and 13.

performs well on sustainable mobility, with buses

and trains accounting for 21% of total passenger

transport in 2022, standing well above the EU

average of 16.6%. Slovakia’s severe housing

deprivation rate was at 4.0% in 2023, at part with

the EU

average. Slovakia is however

underperforming on indices pertaining to

affordable and clean energy (SDG 7). While

Slovakia’s capacity for generating energy from

renewable sources has increased, from 11.9% of

gross final energy consumption in 2018 to 17% in

2023, this share is still below the EU average of

24.6%. Over the same period, energy productivity

improved only marginally, from EUR 4.9 per kgoe

to EUR 5.5 per kgoe, compared to the average EU

improvement from EUR 8.1 per kgoe to EUR 9.8

per kgoe). Slovakia’s dependency on imported

energy as part of its overall energy mix fell from

61.9% in 2018 to 57.7% in 2023, standing just

below the EU average of 58.3%. Slovakia performs

well on the share of municipal waste that is

recycled. The country increased the percentage

recycled from 36.3% in 2018 to 50.3% in 2023,

which is above the EU average of 48.2%.

Slovakia is making progress on its net greenhouse

gas emissions, which have decreased from 6.9

tonnes per capita in 2018 to 5.2 in 2023,

performing better than the 2023 EU average of

6.8 tonnes per capita. Investments and reforms

that are set out in the RRP (sections on

renewables, industry decarbonisation, energy

efficiency, waste disposal and R&D) will boost

Slovakia’s performance on environmental SDGs.

While Slovakia is improving on several SDG

indicators related to

social fairness

(SDGs 3,

4, 5, 7 and 8), it is moving away from others

(SDG 1). Slovakia performs well on SDG 1 but

needs to catch up with the EU average on

SDGs 3, 4, 5, 7 and 8.

Slovakia performs better

than the EU average on poverty-related indicators

(SDG 1), partly because of the relatively little

variation in earnings among workers within the

same industry. Although still lagging behind the EU

average, Slovakia is progressing on some quality

education indicators (SDG 4), such as participation

in early childhood education (rising from 77.6% in

2018 to 80.8% in 2023) but the rate was still

below the EU average of 94.6% in 2023. The high

percentage of low achieving fifteen-year-olds in

mathematics (33.2% in 2022 compared to the EU

average 29.5%) is a cause for concern. On SDG 5

(Gender equality), Slovakia is improving on the

ratio of senior management positions held by

women. The percentage of female board members

increased from 22.0% in 2019 to 22.7% in 2024,

though that figure is still significantly below the

EU average of 32.6%. On SDG

7, Slovakia’s ability

to provide affordable energy has declined. The

percentage of people unable to adequately heat

their homes rose from 4.8% in 2018 to 8.1% in

2023. However, this is still below the EU average

of 10.6% in 2023. The RRP includes measures to

improve pupils’ skills and to make the various

levels of the education system more inclusive and

fairer. For example, by creating more places in

preschool establishments, updating school

curricula, tackling the segregation of the Roma

population, providing specialised training for

teachers and raising the professional qualifications

required of teaching staff (Components 6, 7, 8).

While Slovakia is improving on several SDG

indicators related to

macroeconomic stability

(SDGs 8 and 16), it is moving away from

others (SDG 17). Slovakia needs to catch up

with the EU average on SDGs 8, 16 and 17.

Real GDP per capita in Slovakia has been

increasing, reaching EUR 19 130 in 2024.

However, that figure stood below the EU average

of EUR 33 530 in 2024. The investment share of

GDP slightly increased from 21.7% in 2019 to

20.3% in 2024 (EU average: 21.7%). The

employment rate has increased, reaching 78.1%

of the population aged 20-64 in 2024, and

outpacing the EU average of 75.8%. The long-term

unemployment rate has fallen (to 3.5% in 2024),

standing above the EU average of 1.9%. Measures

presented in the RRP should stimulate much

needed investment and help further reduce long-

term unemployment.

As the SDGs form an overarching framework, any

links to relevant SDGs are either explained or

depicted with icons in the other annexes.

100

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

ANNEX 16: CSR PROGRESS AND EU FUNDS IMPLEMENTATION

Slovakia faces structural challenges in a

wide range of policy areas, as identified in

the country-specific recommendations (CSRs)

addressed to the country as part of the

European Semester.

They refer, among other

things, to the tax system, the quality of public

spending and of public procurement processes, the

effectiveness of the judicial and anticorruption

systems, risks related to household debt and the

functioning of the housing and rental markets, the

teaching of basic skills, energy and waste

management.

The Commission has assessed the 2019-2024

CSRs considering the policy action taken by

Slovakia to date and the commitments in its

recovery and resilience plan (RRP).

At this

stage, Slovakia has made

at least ‘some progress’

on 54% of the CSRs (

271

and ‘limited progress’ on

89% (Table A16.2).

EU funding instruments provide considerable

resources to Slovakia by supporting

investments and structural reforms to

increase competitiveness, environmental

sustainability and social fairness, while

helping to address challenges identified in

the CSRs.

In addition to the EUR 6.4 billion

funding from the Recovery and Resilience Facility

(RRF) in 2021-2026, EU cohesion policy funds (

272

)

are providing EUR 12.6 billion to Slovakia

(amounting to EUR 16.2 billion with national co-

financing) for 2021-2027 (

273

) to boost regional

competitiveness and growth. Support from these

instruments combined represents around 15.3% of

2024 GDP (

274

). The contribution of these

instruments to different policy objectives is

outlined in Graphs A16.1 and A16.2. This

substantial support comes on top of financing

provided to Slovakia under the 2014-2020

(

271

) 6% of the 2019-2024 CSRs have been fully implemented,

5% substantially implemented, and some progress has been

made on 43%.

(

272

) In 2021-2027, cohesion policy funds include the European

Regional Development Fund, the Cohesion Fund, the

European Social Fund Plus and the Just Transition Fund. The

information on cohesion policy included in this annex is

based on adopted programmes with the cut-off date of 5

May 2025.

(

273

) European territorial cooperation (ETC) programmes are

excluded from the figure.

(

274

) RRF funding includes both grants and loans, where

applicable. GDP figures are based on Eurostat data for 2024.

multiannual financial framework, which financed

projects until 2023 and has had significant

benefits for the economy and Slovak society.

Project

selection

under

the

2021-2027

programmes has accelerated, while significant

volumes of investment are yet to be mobilised.

Slovakia’s RRP contains 119 investments

and

103 reforms to stimulate sustainable growth

and support the green and digital transitions,

social inclusion and territorial cohesion.

year before the end of the RRF timespan,

implementation is on its way, with 54% of the

funds disbursed. At present, Slovakia has fulfilled

33% of the milestones and targets in its RRP (

275

Efforts are needed to ensure completion of all RRP

measures by 31 August 2026. Several challenges

hinder the implementation of the RRP, including

inefficient

public

procurement

processes,

insufficient preparation of investment projects and

a fragmented governance structure. Tackling these

barriers would help accelerate the implementation.

Slovakia also receives funding from several

other EU instruments,

including those listed in

Table A16.1. The common agricultural policy (CAP)

provides Slovakia with an EU contribution of

EUR 3.4 billion under the CAP strategic plan 2023-

2027 (

276

). Operations amounting to EUR 49.9

million (

277

) have been signed under the InvestEU

instrument backed by the EU guarantee, improving

access to financing for riskier operations in

Slovakia.

(

275

) As of mid-May 2025, Slovakia has submitted 5 payment

requests, the last one being under assessment.

(

276

)

An overview of Slovakia’s formally approved strategy to

implement the EU’s common

agricultural policy nationally

can be found at: https://agriculture.ec.europa.eu/cap-my-

country/cap-strategic-plans/slovakia_en

(

277

) Data reflect the situation on 31.12.2024.

101

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

Graph A16.1:

Distribution of RRF funding in

Slovakia by policy field

Green transition

Digital transformation

Smart, sustainable and

inclusive growth

Social & territorial cohesion

Health & resilience

Next generation

(1) Each RRP measure helps achieve the aims of two of the

six policy pillars of the RRF. The primary contribution is shown

in the outer circle, while the secondary contribution is shown

in the inner circle. Each circle represents 100% of the RRF

funds. Therefore, the total contribution to all pillars displayed

on this chart amounts to 200% of the RRF funds allocated.

Source:

European Commission

biotechnologies. The European Social Fund Plus

(ESF+) will fund the introduction of individual

learning accounts in Slovakia. This will serve as a

follow-up to the ERDF-funded project (funding:

EUR 2.3 million) aimed at establishing and testing

the relevant IT platform (called EPIVU). The ESF+

project on individual learning accounts (worth

EUR 15 million) will be implemented between

2025-2029 by the Ministry of Education together

with specific partners (the Alliance of Sectoral

Councils, the State Association of Adult Education

Institutions). The project is anchored in the

strategy for lifelong learning and in the new adult

education law, which came into force in January

2025.

Other

funds

are

contributing

competitiveness in Slovakia, for instance

through open calls.

The Connecting Europe

Facility has financed strategic investments in

sustainable mobility with investments in rail

transport infrastructure; energy market integration

with the diversification of natural gas sources and

routes; and digital connectivity with terrestrial

cables connecting Slovakia to Poland and

advanced 5G development. Horizon Europe has

supported research and innovation, from scientific

breakthroughs to scaling up innovations, with

research and innovation capacity and research on

food and agriculture as top priorities in Slovakia.

The Technical Support Instrument (TSI) has

supported Slovakia in the preparation of its Social

Climate Plan as well as overcoming barriers to

regional development in Upper Nitra in 2024. It

also supports capacity building of the public

administration

through

the

multiannual

programme Public Administration Cooperation

Exchange (PACE).

Slovakia’s RRP also contains ambitious

measures

improve

the

business

environment and competitiveness.

As part of

the measures covered by payment requests

submitted over the past year, major reforms have

been implemented to reduce regulatory burden

and improve the efficiency of the judicial system,

the insolvency framework and public procurement.

Slovakia put in place a unified methodology for

the assessment of impacts, new tools for

ex post

evaluations of existing regulations, a ‘1-in-2-out’

rule to ensure that new legislation does not

increase administrative costs for businesses, and

protection against unjustified gold-plating of

legislation. Slovakia also set up a new court

network by reorganising and streamlining the

Graph A16.2:

Distribution of cohesion policy

funding across policy objectives in Slovakia

Smarter Europe

Greener Europe

Connected Europe

Social Europe

Europe closer to citizens

JTF specific objective

Source:

European Commission

Cohesion policy funds aim to increase the

productivity

and

competitiveness

Slovakia’s firms and improve the business

environment.

The

European

Regional

Development Fund (ERDF) will provide funding for

research and development investments and

cooperation with research organisation to over

800 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

An additional 2 700 businesses will receive grants

and loans to improve their competitiveness

through other investments. Over 50 public

institutions will be helped to develop digital

services for the public, while 53 000 dwellings will

gain very high-capacity broadband access to

facilitate the economy’s digital transition. Under

the Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform

(STEP) Slovakia aims to invest over EUR 200

million in developing digital technologies and

102

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

courts system, allowing for greater specialisation

of judges in criminal, civil, commercial or family

justice. The insolvency and restructuring

procedures were also unified and digitalised, with

Slovakia introducing insolvency specialisation at

the level of business courts and early warning

tools. Efforts to digitalise public procurement

included the creation of a single electronic

platform; ensuring interoperability with the

information and data management systems; and

better control and greater efficiency in the

evaluation and award of contracts.

EU funds are playing a significant role in

promoting environmental sustainability and

green transition in Slovakia during the

current seven-year EU budget (multiannual

financial framework).

With ERDF and Just

Transition Fund (JTF) support, capacity for waste

recycling will increase by 500 000 tonnes per year,

while wastewater treatment will improve for

75 000 people in municipalities across Slovakia.

Over 16 000 households will improve their energy

performance thanks to insulation and renewable

energy installations. In regions transitioning from

coal mining and emission-intensive industries

(Trenčín, Košice and Banská Bystrica), the JTF will

support close to 200 businesses operating in green

industries and build over 800 alternative fuel

stations. As for the CAP strategic plan, more than

EUR 513 million in EU funds are reserved for

farmers voluntarily committing to more

environmentally

ambitious

practices

agricultural land as part of the new whole-farm

eco-scheme. Such practices include improving soil

structure, setting aside non-productive areas and

sowing them with pollinator mixtures, limiting the

maximum area of cultivated land and postponing

mowing. Slovakia aims to cultivate 20% of its

agricultural land under organic farming by 2030.

The CAP strategic plan helps this process by

providing financial aid covering 270 000 hectares

(14% of the country’s agricultural land). Under

rural development, about 46% of funds are

reserved for environmental and climate-related

objectives such as agri/forest environmental and

climate

measures.

Practices

leading

sustainability and reduced use of pesticides are

applied on more than 27% of the country’s

agricultural area. Following the Russian invasion of

Ukraine, the plan provides for enhanced

investments in the production of renewable

energy.

Slovakia’s RRP, including the REPowerEU

chapter, has a comprehensive set of reforms

and investments for the green transition.

part of the measures covered by payment

requests submitted over the past year, the

Railways Act and related legislation on transport

infrastructure were amended to improve the

management and planning of transport

investments, including through new transport

methodologies to identify projects. In addition, a

new law on public passenger transport was

adopted to transfer traffic from cars to trains and

optimise rail passenger transport through greater

coordination between regional public bus and train

services, as well as between the state, counties,

cities and municipalities on more integrated and

efficient provision of passenger transport.

Promoting fairness, social cohesion and

improving access to basic services are

among the key priorities of EU funding in

Slovakia.

As a result of ERDF support, healthcare

facilities will be able to serve 740 000 more

patients every year. The capacity of social care

facilities will increase, covering a further 900

people, and capacity and conditions in social

housing will be expanded to cover another 9 000

people. The ESF+ is providing EUR 60 million for

‘Development Teams I’, a project of strategic

importance aimed at empowering marginalised

Roma communities in 60 Roma settlements. A

development team has been set up in each of the

municipalities, with the support of the municipality

leadership. The team then helps with the

challenges the Roma population face (housing,

education, health, access to the labour market,

poverty and indebtedness, and planning issues in

the municipality). The development team employs

Roma and non-Roma field workers who assist

specific families, children, young people,

unemployed people, etc. The project has been

running since mid-2023 and will last until 2026.

The project has produced its first tangible results

in the Roma settlements (e.g. more than 16 000

people have been targeted, 719 people employed,

12 000 events held for families and children, and

6 200 counselling activities for unemployed

people).

Slovakia’s RRP contains several reforms and

investments related to fairness and social

policies.

As part of the measures covered by

payment requests submitted over the past year,

Slovakia has improved the efficiency and

103

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

availability of emergency care. More specifically, it

has amended legislation in the field and optimised

the emergency care network by setting up a new

network of ambulance stations and providing a

new definition of emergency care and criteria for

responding to requests for emergency care

services. Slovakia also reorganised long-term

health and palliative and nursing care, to improve

the offer and coordination between types of care

and to make financing more effective. Measures to

improve equity and quality in the education

system included: (i) setting up education support

for children and pupils with special educational

needs and experiencing obstacles to accessing

education; (ii) the creation of a comprehensive

system of counselling for children, pupils, students;

(iii) provision for completing lower secondary

education in vocational schools; and (iv) a new

curriculum for all primary schools organised in

multiannual education cycles. To help Slovakia

implement its RRP, the TSI supported the health

system performance assessment reform.

Table A16.1:Selected

EU funds with adopted allocations - summary data (million EUR)

Instrument/policy

RRF grants (including the RepowerEU allocation)

RRF loans

Allocation 2021-2026

6 408.5

Disbursed since 2021 (1)

3 471.8

Disbursed since 2021 (3)

(covering total payments to the

Member State on commitments

originating from both 2014-

2020 and 2021-2027

programming periods)

9 242.0

5 004.0

2 052.4

2 033.4

152.1

4.3

Instrument/policy

Allocation 2014-2020 (2)

Allocation 2021-2027

Cohesion policy (total)

European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)

Cohesion Fund (CF)

European Social Fund (ESF, ESF+) and the Youth Employment

Initiative (YEI)

Just Transition Fund (JTF)

Fisheries

European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF)

and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF)

Migration and home affairs

Migration, border management and internal security - AMIF,

BMVI and ISF (4)

The common agricultural policy under the CAP strategic

plan (5)

Total under the CAP strategic plan

European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF)

European Fund for Agricultural Development (EAFRD)

14 288.4

7 167.0

3 991.0

3 130.4

12 593.7

7 305.6

2 472.8

2 356.3

459.0

7.7

15.2

53.5

Allocation 2023-2027

3 380.0

2 063.1

1 316.9

99.2

36.8

Disbursements under the

CAP Strategic Plan (6)

969.9

759.2

210.7

(1) The cut-off date for data on disbursements under the RRF is 31 May 2025.

(2) Cohesion policy 2014-2020 allocations include REACT-EU appropriations committed in 2021-2022.

(3) These amounts relate only to disbursements made from 2021 onwards and do not include payments made to the Member

State before 2021. Hence the figures do not comprise the totality of payments corresponding to the 2014-2020 allocation. The

cut-off date for data on disbursements under EMFAF and EMFF is 29 April 2025. The cut-off date for data on disbursements

under cohesion policy funds, AMIF, BMVI and ISF is 5 May 2025.

(4) AMIF - Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund; BMVI - Border Management and Visa Instrument; ISF - Internal Security Fund.

(5) Expenditure outside the CAP strategic plan is not included.

(6) The cut-off date for data on EARDF disbursements is 5 May 2025. The information on EAGF disbursements is based on the

Member State declarations until March 2025. Disbursements for the Direct Payments (EAGF) started in 2024.

Source:

European Commission

104

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

Table A16.2:Summary

table on 2019-2024 CSRs

Slovakia

2019 CSR 1

Achieve the medium-term budgetary objective in 2020.

Safeguard the long-term sustainability of public finances, notably that of the

healthcare and pension systems.

2019 CSR 2

Improve the quality and inclusiveness of education at all levels and foster skills.

Enhance access to affordable and quality childcare and long-term care.

Promote integration of disadvantaged groups, in particular Roma.

2019 CSR 3

Focus investment-related economic policy on healthcare,

research and innovation,

transport, notably on its sustainability,

digital infrastructure,

energy efficiency,

competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises,

and social housing, taking into account regional disparities.

Increase the use of quality-related and lifecycle cost criteria in public procurement

operations.

2019 CSR 4

Continue to improve the effectiveness of the justice system,

focussing

strengthening its independence, including on judicial appointments.

Increase efforts to detect and prosecute corruption, in particular in large-scale

corruption cases.

2020 CSR 1

In line with the general escape clause, take all necessary measures to effectively

address the pandemic, sustain the economy and support the ensuing recovery.

When economic conditions allow, pursue fiscal policies aimed at achieving prudent

medium-term fiscal positions and ensuring debt sustainability, while enhancing

investment.

Strengthen the resilience of the health system in the areas of health workforce,

critical medical products and infrastructure.

Improve primary care provision and coordination between types of care.

2020 CSR 2

Provide adequate income replacement,

and ensure access to social protection and essential services for all.

Strengthen digital skills.

Ensure equal access to quality education.

2020 CSR 3

Effectively implement measures to ensure liquidity for small and medium-sized

enterprises and self-employed.

Close digital infrastructure gaps.

Front-load mature public investment projects

and promote private investment to foster the economic recovery.

Focus investment on the green and digital transition, in particular on clean and

efficient production and use of energy and resources,

sustainable public transport,

and waste management.

2020 CSR 4

Ensure effective supervision and enforcement of the anti-money laundering

framework.

Ensure a favourable business environment

and quality public services through enhanced coordination and policy-making.

Address the integrity concerns in the justice system.

Assessment in May 2025

No longer relevant

Some progress

Limited progress

Some progress

Limited progress

No progress

No longer relevant

SDG 16

Relevant SDGs

SDG 8, 16

SDG 3, 8

SDG 4, 8, 10

SDG 3, 4, 5

SDG 1, 2, 4, 8, 10

SDG 3, 10, 11

SDG 9, 10, 11

SDG 10, 11

SDG 9, 10, 11

SDG 7, 10, 11

SDG 8, 9, 10, 11

SDG 1, 2, 10, 11

SDG 9

No longer relevant

SDG 8, 16

Limited progress

Some progress

Substantial progress

Limited progress

Some progress

Limited progress

Some progress

Limited progress

Some progress

Limited progress

No progress

SDG 3

SDG 1, 2, 8, 10

SDG 1, 2, 10

SDG 4

SDG 4, 8, 10

SDG 8, 9

SDG 9

SDG 8, 16

SDG 8, 9

SDG 6, 7, 9, 12, 13, 15

SDG 11

SDG 6, 12, 15

SDG 8, 16

SDG 8, 9

SDG 10, 11, 16

SDG 16

(Continued on the next page)

105

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

Table (continued)

2021 CSR 1

In 2022, maintain a supportive fiscal stance, including the impulse provided by the

Recovery and Resilience Facility, and preserve nationally financed investment.

When economic conditions allow, pursue a fiscal policy aimed at achieving prudent

medium-term fiscal positions and ensuring fiscal sustainability in the medium

term.

At the same time, enhance investment to boost growth potential. Pay particular

attention to the composition of public finances, on both the revenue and

expenditure sides of the budget, and to the quality of budgetary measures in order

to ensure a sustainable and inclusive recovery. Prioritise sustainable and growth-

enhancing investment, in particular investment supporting the green and digital

transition.

Give priority to fiscal structural reforms that will help provide financing for public

policy priorities and contribute to the long-term sustainability of public finances,

including, where relevant, by strengthening the coverage, adequacy and

sustainability of health and social protection systems for all.

2022 CSR 1

In 2023, ensure that the growth of nationally financed primary current expenditure

is in line with an overall neutral policy stance, taking into account continued

temporary and targeted support to households and firms most vulnerable to

energy price hikes and to people fleeing Ukraine. Stand ready to adjust current

spending to the evolving situation.

Expand public investment for the green and digital transitions, and for energy

security taking into account the REPowerEU initiative, including by making use of

the Recovery and Resilience Facility and other Union funds.

For the period beyond 2023, pursue a fiscal policy aimed at achieving prudent

medium-term fiscal positions.

Make the tax mix more efficient and more supportive to inclusive and sustainable

growth, including by leveraging the potential of environmental and property

taxation.

Continue to strengthen tax compliance, including by further digitalising tax

administration.

2022 CSR 2

Proceed with the implementation of its recovery and resilience plan, in line with the

milestones and targets included in the Council Implementing Decision of 13 July

2021.

Submit the 2021-2027 cohesion policy programming documents with a view to

finalising their negotiations with the Commission and subsequently starting their

implementation.

2022 CSR 3

Reduce overall reliance on fossil fuels and diversify imports of fossil fuels.

Accelerate the deployment of renewables by further facilitating grid access,

introducing measures to streamline permitting and administrative procedures

and modernising the electricity network.

Reduce reliance on natural gas in heating and industry.

Adjust renovation policies to accelerate and incentivise deep renovations of

buildings.

No longer relevant

SDG 8, 16

No longer relevant

SDG 8, 16

No longer relevant

SDG 8, 16

No longer relevant

SDG 8, 16

No longer relevant

SDG 8, 16

No longer relevant

Limited progress

Some progress

SDG 8, 16

SDG 8, 10, 12

SDG 8, 9, 16

RRP implementation is monitored by assessing RRP payment

requests and analysing reports published twice a year on the

achievement of the milestones and targets. These are to be

reflected in the country reports.

Progress on the cohesion policy programming documents is

monitored under the EU cohesion policy.

Some progress

Substantial progress

Limited progress

Some progress

SDG 7, 9, 13

SDG 7, 8, 9, 13

SDG 7, 9, 13

SDG 7

(Continued on the next page)

106

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

Table (continued)

2023 CSR 1

Wind down the emergency energy support measures in force, using the related

savings to reduce the government deficit, as soon as possible in 2023 and 2024.

Should renewed energy price increases necessitate new or continued support

measures, ensure that these are targeted at protecting vulnerable households and

firms, fiscally affordable, and preserve incentives for energy savings.

Ensure prudent fiscal policy, in particular by limiting the nominal increase in

nationally financed net primary expenditure in 2024 to not more than 5.7%.

Preserve nationally financed public investment and ensure the effective absorption

of RRF grants and other EU funds, in particular to foster the green and digital

transitions.

For the period beyond 2024, continue to pursue a medium-term fiscal strategy of

gradual and sustainable consolidation, combined with investments and reforms

conducive to higher sustainable growth, to achieve a prudent medium-term fiscal

position.

Make the tax mix more efficient and more supportive of inclusive and sustainable

growth, including by leveraging the potential of environmental and property

taxation.

Continue to strengthen tax compliance, including by further digitalising the tax

administration.

Reduce the risks related to household debt by supporting housing supply and the

expansion of the rental market.

2023 CSR 2

Maintain the momentum in the steady implementation of the recovery and

resilience plan and, following the recent submission of the addendum, including the

REPowerEU chapter, rapidly start the implementation of the related measures.

Proceed with the speedy implementation of cohesion policy programmes, in close

complementarity and synergy with the recovery and resilience plan.

2023 CSR 3

Reduce the

economy’s

reliance on fossil fuels, in particular natural gas in industry

and heating, and diversify imports of fossil fuels.

Accelerate the deployment of renewables, particularly for wind, solar, geothermal

and renewable gases, in line with relevant sustainability criteria.

Simplify permitting and administrative procedures for deploying renewables,

including by establishing ‘one-stop shops’ and ‘go-to’ areas.

Modernise the electricity network and make the procedures for connecting

renewables to the grid more efficient and less burdensome.

Accelerate and incentivise deep renovations of public and private buildings,

address energy poverty through housing renovations for low-income households,

and step up policy efforts aimed at the provision and acquisition of skills and

competences needed for the green transition.

Some progress

Substantial progress

SDG 8, 16

Full implementation

SDG 8, 16

Limited progress

SDG 8, 16

Limited progress

SDG 8, 10, 12

Some progress

Limited progress

SDG 8, 9, 16

SDG 8

RRP implementation is monitored through the assessment of RRP

payment requests and analysis of the bi-annual reporting on the

achievement of the milestones and targets, to be reflected in the

country reports. Progress with the cohesion policy is monitored in

the context of the Cohesion Policy of the European Union.

Limited progress

Some progress

Limited progress

Some progress

Limited progress

SDG 7, 9, 13

SDG 7, 8, 9, 13,

SDG 7, 8, 9, 13

SDG 7

SDG 1, 2, 7, 10

SDG 4

(Continued on the next page)

107

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

Table (continued)

2024 CSR 1

Submit the medium-term fiscal-structural plan in a timely manner.

In line with the requirements of the reformed Stability and Growth Pact, limit the

growth in net expenditure in 2025 to a rate consistent with inter alia, reducing the

general government deficit towards the 3% of GDP Treaty reference value and

keeping the general government debt at a prudent level over the medium term.

Make the tax mix more efficient, including by reducing disincentives on the labour

market, and making a stronger use of environmental and recurrent property

taxation.

Reduce costly spending measures, also by implementing spending reviews.

Continue to strengthen tax compliance, including by further digitalising tax

administration.

Reduce the risks related to household debt by supporting housing supply and the

expansion of the rental market.

2024 CSR 2

Some progress

Full implementation

SDG 8, 16

Full implementation

SDG 8, 16

Limited progress

Some progress

Limited progress

SDG 8, 10, 12

SDG 8, 16

SDG 8, 9, 16

SDG 8

Ensure effective governance, strengthen administrative capacity to manage EU

funds, accelerate investments and maintain momentum in the implementation of

reforms. Address relevant challenges to allow for continued, swift and effective

RRP implementation is monitored through the assessment of RRP

implementation of the recovery and resilience plan, including the REPowerEU

payment requests and analysis of the bi-annual reporting on the

chapter, ensuring completion of reforms and investments by August 2026.

achievement of the milestones and targets. Progress with the

Accelerate the implementation of the cohesion policy programme. In the context of

cohesion policy programming is monitored in the context of the

its mid-term review, continue focusing on the agreed priorities, taking action to

Cohesion Policy of the European Union.

better address the investment needs in the sustainable use of natural resources,

while considering the opportunities provided by the Strategic Technologies for

Europe Platform initiative to improve competitiveness.

2024 CSR 3

Strengthen the effectiveness, independence and integrity of the judicial and

anticorruption system

including by ensuring that adequate safeguards for the effective investigation and

prosecution of high-level corruption cases are in place.

Improve competitiveness and productivity, including by ensuring transparency and

competition in public procurement processes, to promote good governance and

improve the effectiveness of public spending.

Strengthen the teaching of basic skills,

including for children from disadvantaged backgrounds such as from marginalised

Roma communities,

and increase the availability and use of affordable high-quality early childhood

education and care for children under the age of 3.

Strengthen resource waste management and reuse of municipal and packaging

waste,

and the conservation of natural resources by mainstreaming nature-based

solutions and finalising zonation of nature-protected areas.

Limited progress

No progress

Limited progress

No porgress

Limited progress

No progress

SDG 16

SDG 9, 16

SDG 4

SDG 4, 8, 10

SDG 4, 5

SDG 1, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13,

Source:

European Commission

108

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

ANNEX 17: COMPETITIVE REGIONS

The degree of economic and social

development is higher in the west of

Slovakia than in the east.

Boosting innovation

capacity would help to increase the growth

potential and competitiveness of the less

developed regions. Many Roma communities,

which are concentrated in the poorer areas of

Slovakia continue to face marginalisation,

Graph A17.1:

GDP per head in purchasing power

standard (PPS)

200

Competitiveness

Regional disparities are closely linked to a

persistent labour productivity gap between

Bratislava and the rest of Slovakia.

In 2022,

labour productivity in the Bratislava capital region,

measured as real GDP per hour worked, reached

EUR 33.15, significantly higher than the national

average of EUR 23.50 (Graph A17.2). Stronger

productivity growth in the regions would help the

country catch up with the EU average.

Graph A17.2:

Labour productivity per hour

175

150

125

100

2015 EUR per hour worked

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

Bratislavsk�½ kraj

Stredné Slovensko

Západné Slovensko

V�½chodné Slovensko

Unit: Index EU-27=100

Source:

ARDECO (JRC)

2012

2014

2016

2013

2015

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

Other NUTS 2 regions

Capital region

National average

2022

EU27

Regional disparities in Slovakia have

diminished but large gaps persist between

the capital region, where economic activity is

concentrated, and the rest of the country.

2023, GDP per head in the capital region of

Bratislava (Bratislavsk�½ kraj) corresponded to

148% of the EU average. The other three regions,

Western (Západné Slovensko), Central (Stredné

Slovensko) and Eastern Slovakia (V�½chodné

Slovensko), were far behind, at 70%, 61% and

54% of the EU average respectively. While GDP

per head in Bratislava was boosted by commuters,

the household income per head (at 108% of the

EU average in Bratislava and between 61% and

69% in the other three regions in 2021) also

points to significant disparities. The gap has

narrowed due to the capital region's relative

decline (Graph A17.1). In 2014-2023, real GDP per

head growth averaged 0.4% per year in Bratislava,

while in the other regions it was between 2.4%

and 3.2%. More dynamic growth in the less

developed regions would help them catch up and

help the country as a whole to catch up with the

rest of the EU.

Unit: Real GDP per hour worked (EUR, 2015 prices)

Source:

ARDECO (JRC)

Source:

Stronger innovation performance and higher

investment in R&D would support regional

development.

R&D expenditure in the business

enterprise sector, at 0.75% of GDP in Bratislava,

0.64% in Western Slovakia and about half of that

in the other two regions, is far below the EU

average of 1.53%. The Bratislava region is only a

moderate innovator, while the other three regions

are classified as emerging innovators (the lowest

category) on the regional innovation scoreboard

2023. However, there are positive trends, such as

an increase in innovative activities among small to

medium-sized enterprises in Central Slovakia, or

rising numbers of ICT specialists and R&D

expenditure among businesses in Eastern Slovakia.

The capital region is more competitive than

the other three regions and attracts new

inhabitants.

Differences in the business

environment, as well as transport infrastructure,

human capital and labour market conditions

contribute to significant gaps in competitiveness.

Only in Bratislava is the Regional Competitiveness

109

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

Table A17.1:Selection

of indicators at regional level in Slovakia

GDP per

head

(PPS)

Real GDP

per head

growth

R&D

Productivity -

Real

Productivity -

Real

Human

Employment

expenditure

GDP per productivity GDP per productivity

resources in

Gender

in business

Unemploy-

person

growth

hour

growth

science and knowledge- employment

enterprise

ment rate

employed (per person worked

(per hour

technology

intensive

gap

sector

(PPS)

employed)

(PPS)

worked)

(core)

services

(BERD)

At-risk-of-

poverty or

social

exclusion

CO2

Access to

emissions

alternative

from fossil

fuel

fuels per

infrastructure

head

Number of

electric

vehicles

charging

points within

10 km

2022

287

220

Green

employment -

in sustainable

but

competitive

sectors

Index

EU-27 = 100

Average

Index

annual

EU-27 = 100

% change

Average

annual

% change

Index

EU-27 = 100

Average

annual

% change

% of GDP

Difference

between

% of total

men and % of labour % of total

employment employment women

force

population

(percentage

point)

2024

49.2

42.8

68.1

39.0

39.3

37.2

2024

41.5

36.6

58.0

29.9

33.8

35.8

2024

10.0

8.9

1.5

9.5

9.0

11.9

2024

5.9

5.3

2.3

3.3

5.1

9.6

2024

21.0

18.3

8.6

15.8

18.1

25.7

tCO2

% of total

employment

2023

European Union (27 MS)

Slovakia

Bratislavsk�½ kraj

Západné Slovensko

Stredné Slovensko

V�½chodné Slovensko

100

148

2014-2023

1.6

2.4

0.4

2.4

2.9

3.2

2023

100

111

2014-2023

0.6

1.3

0.7

1.3

1.4

2.1

2022

100

108

2013-2022

0.9

2.3

2.2

2.4

2.5

2022

1.53

0.56

0.75

0.64

0.44

0.31

2023

7.1

8.2

7.7

8.6

5.3

10.5

2020

15.1

7.9

34.7

3.5

2.9

4.6

Source:

Eurostat and ARDECO (JRC)

Index above the EU average set at 100. The Index

measures a region’s ability to offer an attractive

environment for firms and residents to live and

work in (Map A17.1). In 2013-2022, Western,

Central and Eastern Slovakia were losing residents

at an annual rate of 1-3 per 1 000 due to both

natural population decrease and outmigration.

Conversely, the Bratislava capital region attracted

residents (+17 per 1 000 annually), primarily due

to net migration.

Social fairness

Slovakia’s labour market has

improved

significantly, but joblessness in Eastern

Slovakia remains a concern, especially for

young people.

All regions have experienced

employment growth compared to pre-pandemic

levels. In 2024, the capital region boasted an

impressive 85.4% employment rate. The

employment rates in Western and Central Slovakia

(79.4% and 79.0% respectively) were also above

the EU average of 75.8%, while Eastern Slovakia

lagged behind at 72.5%. The unemployment rate

in Eastern Slovakia, at 9.6% in 2024, declined less

and remained at a much higher level than in the

other regions (Table A17.1). The percentage of

young people (15-29 years old) who are not in

education, employment or training, at 16.9% in

Eastern Slovakia, is twice as high as in other

regions. The capital region stands out, with a

nearly equal employment rate of women and men,

while the other regions exhibit a gender gap of 9-

12 percentage points, with more men employed.

Rural areas enjoy good access to primary

education, but there is room for improvement

in access to healthcare.

In the rural areas, 50%

of children under the age of 15 live within a 15-

minute walk from a school, exceeding the EU

average of 31%. However, the performance gap in

basic skills (mathematics, reading and science)

between schools in rural and urban areas was

among the highest in the EU (

278

), suggesting

(

278

)

Programme for International Student Assessment 2022

–

Slovak Republic

Map A17.1:

Regional Competitiveness Index 2.0,

2022 edition

Source:

DG REGIO, JRC based on Eurostat

Human capital is concentrated in Bratislava.

The percentage of people aged 25-64 with tertiary

education was 52.6% in the region of Bratislava,

above the EU average of 36.1% and far more than

in the other regions, which range from 24.6% to

26.9%. Employment in science, technology and

knowledge-intensive services shows a similar

pattern (Table A17.1).

110

kom (2025) 0225 - Ingen titel

challenges linked to teaching quality and socio-

economic aspects (see Annex 12). Less than 20%

of the rural population resides within a 10-minute

drive of a hospital, significantly lower than the EU

average of 29% (Graph A17.3).

Graph A17.3:

Access to healthcare and primary

education in rural areas, 2023

Slovensko

poverty or social exclusion (23.1% in 2022) is

higher than the EU average (21.6%). Worse labour

market, social and education outcomes in regions

with a high presence of marginalised Roma

communities confirm the long-standing challenges

of Roma inclusion. Cohesion policy 2021-2027

allocates significant funding to projects targeting

Roma communities as well as municipalities with a

significant

Roma

population.

Sufficient

administrative capacity in fund management,

more expedite public procurement procedures and

resolving problems with land ownership rights

would help to enable much-needed investments.

V�½chodné Slovensko

Západné Slovensko

Bratislavsk�½ kraj

Stredné Slovensko

Sustainability

Regional disparities in greenhouse gas

emissions persist and decarbonisation has

stalled outside the capital region.

Between

1990 and 2023, Slovakia achieved a 42%

reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. In 2023,

per head emissions ranged from 5.3 tonnes of CO

equivalent in Central Slovakia to 10.5 tonnes in

Eastern Slovakia. Rapid emissions reduction

occurred in the 1990s. While Bratislava achieved

its record low in 2023, progress towards further

decarbonisation has stagnated in Western, Central

and Eastern Slovakia.

Bratislava surpasses other regions in green

jobs and sustainable mobility infrastructure

but lags behind regional peers.

Slovakia’s

electric vehicle charging infrastructure requires

significant development. While Bratislava, with

220 charging points within a 10 km radius, leads

the way, it still lags behind neighbouring capitals

like Vienna in Austria, which boasts seven times

more charging points. The remaining Slovak

regions fare worse, with fewer than 30 charging

points within a 10 km radius (

280

). Green

employment is concentrated in Bratislava, where

35% of jobs are classified as sustainable and

competitive. This is significantly higher than in the

other regions, where the percentage is below 5%.

Access to healthcare (% of population)

Access to primary school (% of children under 15 years old)

Units: Percentage of population that can reach nearest

hospital within 10 minutes by car (EU-27); Percentage of

children under 15 years old who can reach primary school

within a 15-minute walk (EU-24).

Source:

Eurostat

Housing affordability is an issue in the

capital in particular.

An average household in

the Bratislava region needs almost 18 years to

accumulate the average price of a 100 m²

dwelling, while in the other regions this ranges

between 8 and 13 years (

279

). While Slovakia has

one of the highest rates of home ownership in the

EU (92.5%), housing prices relative to incomes are

also among the highest. The rental market is

underdeveloped, and social rental housing

represents only 2.5% of the total housing stock.

More people were overburdened by housing costs

in Eastern Slovakia (8.6%) than in the other

regions in 2024. Eastern Slovakia has the highest

percentage of population unable to keep their

homes adequately warm (15.8%).

While the risk of poverty is relatively low in

Slovakia, improving the living conditions and

social inclusion of Roma people remains a

high priority.

Eastern Slovakia is the only region

in which the percentage of people at risk of

(

279

)

OECD (2024), OECD Economic Surveys: Slovak Republic

2024, OECD Publishing, Paris.

(

280

) Indicators of access to alternative fuel infrastructure are

based on calculations by DG REGIO and the JRC, using data

from the European Alternative Fuels Observatory (EAFO),

Eurostat, TomTom and Eco-Movement.

111