Robert Fico, former Slovak prime minister and leader of the Smer-SD party, who called to halt military aid to Ukraine, signed a memorandum of understanding to form a coalition with the Voice party and the pro-Russian Slovak National Party (SNP).
On October 11, a coalition memorandum was signed between Smer-SD, which won the election with 42 seats, Voice, which came in third with 27 seats, and the SNP, which has 10 seats in the new parliament, Reuters reported.
Pro-Russian Smer, ultranationalist SNP and Voice signed a coalition memorandum
“The parties… guarantee the foreign policy orientation of the Slovak Republic based on Slovakia’sSlovakia’s membership in the European Union, NATO and other significant international organisations, with full respect for sovereignty and national interests,” the memorandum says.
The memorandum did not specify any foreign policy details. However, the differences in the views are evident as the liberal and centre-left Hlas party (Voice), third in the election with the “golden share”, has a pro-European stance.
Smer-SD will get the prime minister and six ministers positions
According to the coalition agreement, Smer-SD will have the right to appoint the prime minister and six ministers, which allows Fico to become the head of the Slovak government for the fourth time.
“The Voice will receive the post of Speaker of the Parliament, likely to be Pellegrini, the party’s leader, and seven ministerial positions. The pro-Russian Slovak National Party will get three ministerial seats.
Aware of the pro-Russian and anti-European narratives of the Smer-SD party, first in the election, and potential bigger coalition partner, Pellegrini has tried to assure the supporters that Hlas will maintain pro-European policy.
“Hlas will guarantee that Slovakia’s membership of the EU and NATO will not be jeopardised in any way”, Pellegrini said.
Meanwhile, the liberal Progressive Slovakia party, which came in second with 18% of the vote, will remain in opposition.
The problematic element of these talks is that SNS is an ultranationalist political party, far-right, while Hlas has been positioning itself as a centre-left and social-democratic party. In any other EU state, such an alliance would be surrealistic.
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2023 Elections in Slovakia
On September 30, parliamentary elections were held in Slovakia, where one of the leading parties was Robert Fico’sFico’s Smer, which used pro-Russian and anti-Ukrainian narratives in its campaign.
The party’s leader had stated the day before that he wanted to cancel military and political support for Ukraine.
The pro-Russian Smer party won the parliamentary elections in Slovakia with 23% and 5% ahead of the liberal and pro-European Progressive Slovakia party.
After the victory of Robert Fico’s pro-Russian party, Smer-SD, in the Slovak parliamentary elections, the interim government announced that it would stop sending further military aid to Ukraine.
Who is Robert Fico?
Former Prime Minister of Slovakia with pro-Russian and anti-Ukrainian views. Leader of the centre-left party called Smer – social democracy or Smer-SD.
Fico served two Slovakian Prime minister mandates from 2006 to 2010 and 2012 to 2018, both marred by allegations of corruption and concerns of authoritarianism.
In 2018, Fico resigned due to the murder of an investigative journalist and his fiance. After Robert Fico lost the 2020 election, his party broke up, and many observers believed his political career was over.
But Fico has since pulled off a successful comeback to the Slovak political stage.
Fico accused Georgia of provocation when it attacked South Ossetia during the 2008 Russia-Georgia war.
During his term as Prime Minister, the Slovak Foreign Ministry condemned the Crimean referendum that Russia used to annexe Crimea illegally.
Fico’s stance in foreign policy has consistently been pro-Russian
Regarding the EU sanctions imposed on Russia in 2014 for the Crimea annexation, Fico called them “senseless” and a “threat to the Slovak economy.”
In 2016, Fico stated that the sanctions had not affected Russian policies. “Sanctions harm the EU and Russia while benefiting the US.” “I reject them, but I will not break the EU’s unity over it,” he said.
After Russia invaded Ukraine, Fico opposed the transfer of MiG-29 aircraft from Slovakia to Ukraine. He spread Kremlin narratives and lied that the war in Donbas in 2014 was allegedly started not by Moscow but by “Ukrainian fascists”.
Fico has compared a NATO battlegroup in Slovakia to Nazi soldiers and portrayed the Ukrainian situation as a confrontation between the US and Russia. He claimed that allowing Ukraine to join NATO would result in World War III.
Fico blamed Ukraine and the West for initiating the war when Russia launched an all-out war against Ukraine, even though Russian troops violated international law by invading a sovereign nation.
However, in fact, Ukraine has been subjected to an unjust, unprovoked, and relentless war launched by Putin’s regime.
