Under the terms of the agreement signed on Wednesday by the three party leaders, Peter Pellegrini, the leader of the more liberal Social Democrats, a moderate dissident from Ficos Smer, will become president of parliament. The SNS is the smallest partner in the coalition. After the signing, Fico announced that he wanted the government to be set up “as quickly as possible”. It was not yet clear when this could be sworn in. The new government in Bratislava will replace the interim head of government, Ludovit Odor, who has been in office since May 2023 and did not stand for election.
In writing, the three parties guaranteed a foreign policy based on membership of the EU and NATO, while “respecting Slovakia’s national interests”. Fico had already announced during the election campaign that if it came to power, Slovakia would continue to help Ukraine, but no longer with weapons, but only with civilian goods.
Possible rapprochement with Hungary
The 59-year-old declared during the election campaign: “We are a peaceful country and we will not send a single cartridge to Ukraine.” He also rejected Ukraine’s imminent EU membership. At the same time, he called for better relations with Russia. In terms of gross domestic product, Slovakia has so far been one of Ukraine’s biggest European supporters – among other things, Bratislava has donated MiG fighters to Kiev.
Slovak government has set
A week and a half after the parliamentary elections, a new government coalition was finalized in Slovakia. The party leaders of the left-populist Smer-SSD, the social-democratic Hlas and the right-wing populist Slovak National Party (SNS) signed a corresponding agreement.
Political observers assume that a government under Fico will now follow the line of Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who is in power in neighboring Hungary, who disagrees with the EU on numerous issues – and the EU and NATO’s efforts to support Ukraine were torpedoed. After the electoral success, Fico himself said that Slovakia’s foreign policy orientation would not change. The country is “of course a member of the EU,” he said, but added: “Of course that doesn’t mean I can’t criticize things in the EU that I don’t like.”
Corruption problem in Slovakia
Fico’s party “Direction – Slovak Social Democracy” (Smer-SSD) emerged as the strongest force in the September 30 parliamentary elections. Pellegrini’s “Voice – Social Democracy” (Hlas-SD), which came third in the elections, initially left it open whether it would be with Fico or the second-placed liberal party Progressive Slovakia (PS), led by EU MP Michal Simecka and at least two smaller center-right parties form a joint government.
Fico was head of government from 2006 to 2010 and from 2012 to 2018 and led Slovakia to join the Schengen area in 2007 and the eurozone in 2009. After the murder of investigative journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancee Martina Kusnirova in 2018 , the investigation revealed large corruption networks in which senior State officials were also involved. Fico was forced to resign under pressure from mass protests.
Wave of misinformation
During the election campaign, Slovakia was inundated by a flood of disinformation, much of which targeted Fico’s rival Simecka. According to a study carried out last year by political institute Globsec, around half of Slovakia’s 5.4 million inhabitants subscribe to populist conspiracy theories.