New Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico and President Zuzana Čaputová during the swearing-in ceremony of the new government at the Presidential Palace in Bratislava (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
Robert Fico is the new Prime Minister of Slovakia. His Smer party, which is left-wing but represents pro-Russian and populist positions, received the most votes in the September 30 elections. The new government was sworn in before President Zuzana Čaputová and emerged from an agreement between Smer (which means “direction” in Slovak), HLAS, another left-wing populist party founded by former Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini, and the Slovak National Party (SNS ), conservative and populist: represent six, seven and two ministers, respectively.
It is the fourth government under Fico, who was prime minister from 2006 to 2010 and in two governments from 2012 to 2018. He and his party have been involved in several scandals in recent years and have repeatedly been accused of corruption. During the election campaign, Fico promised to stop sending weapons to Ukraine and to oppose sanctions against Russia (Slovakia has already sent most of its war supplies to Ukraine). Currently, Hungary, under the leadership of semi-authoritarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, is the only country in the European Union that explicitly opposes supporting Ukraine with weapons, subsidies and political legitimacy.
However, the formation of Fico’s government was rocky: on October 19, President Čaputová rejected the appointment of Rudolf Huliak, a Slovak National Party politician who had publicly expressed positions denying climate change, as environment minister. According to Čaputová, Huliak could not have guaranteed the government’s compliance with international treaties and long-term commitments. Huliak’s proposal as minister was therefore withdrawn.
– Also read: Robert Fico, socialist and pro-Russian, won the elections in Slovakia
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