News digest: A Slovak earned pound 179 a month 30 years ago.

SaS chair will step down, Italian supermarket will open its first store in Slovakia, and apology to ex-Smer minister.

SaS will elect new leader next spring

SaS chair Richard Sulik will step down from the post of leader of the liberal Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party next year.

"Fifteen years of the existence of SaS also means 15 years of my life," Sulik said. "I would be very unhappy if this extraordinary political project ended together with its founder."

On Monday, he said that the party would elect his successor in March 2024. However, he wants to become the party's honorary chair. It would be a new post for Sulik. He would not possess any decision-making competences.

Sulik, who obtained 82,048 preference votes in the 2023 election, also confirmed that he would run in the EP election next year. The SaS chair plans to run in the 2027 parliamentary election as well.

"If SaS is in the government, I will be very happy to be a part of Slovak politics again," the Sas founder said.

History: The party, founded in 2009, got into parliament after every election. SaS was part of two governments that ended earlier than planned. SaS was, in part,responsible for the collapse of the cabinets. The party has seen many members leave the party. For example, in 2019, about 30 people quit the party.

Quote: "Richard Sulik will go down in the history of Slovakia as the historically most successful destroyer of democratic governments whose vanity twice ensured the return of absolute evil in the form of Fico's governments." (OLaNO chair Igor Matovic on October 23)

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