Sight Magazine – Slovakia vote winner challenges European consensus on Ukraine

Bratislava, Slovakia
Reuters

Pro-Russian, anti-liberal Slovak election winner Robert Fico was preparing on Sunday to begin coalition negotiations to form a government that could join Hungary in its opposition to European Union military aid to the Ukraine.

The 59-year-old former SMER-SSD prime minister won nearly 23 percent of Saturday’s parliamentary vote, prompting the president to begin negotiations to replace a technocratic government that supports Kiev against invasion Russian.

SMER-SSD party leader Robert Fico speaks during a news conference after the country’s early parliamentary elections, in Bratislava, Slovakia, October 1, 2023. PHOTO: Reuters/Radovan Stoklasa

“We are not changing and we are ready to help Ukraine in a humanitarian way,” said Fico, whom analysts see as inspired by Hungarian nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has frequently clashed with the EU.

“We are ready to help rebuild the state, but you know our opinion on arming Ukraine,” he added at a press conference.

Fico’s campaign call “Not a single round” for neighboring Ukraine resonated in the country of 5.5 million people.

Slovakia is a member of the NATO military alliance, which supports Ukraine against Russian President Vladimir Putin, but much of its population sympathizes with Moscow’s line that the West wants to wipe it out.

Fico said Slovakia had bigger problems than the Ukraine issue, including energy prices and the cost of living, but his party would do everything possible to start peace talks.

The Slovak liberal party Progresivne Slovensko (Progressive Slovakia, PS) came second in Saturday’s vote with almost 18 percent of the vote and wants to maintain its support for Ukraine.

Fico could therefore turn to the moderate left-wing party HLAS (Voice), which came third with almost 15 percent of the vote, as a partner alongside the nationalist and pro-Russian Slovak National Party.

He said coalition talks could take two weeks.

HLAS leader Peter Pellegrini said Ukraine’s ammunition supply was good for the Slovak defense industry and his party supported the EU’s stance against the invasion.

Fico’s pragmatism could lead him to moderate his rhetoric in the future, analysts and diplomats say, especially in a coalition with HLAS.

Slovakia has already donated to Ukraine most of what it can from state reserves – including fighter jets – and Fico has not said whether his party would seek to end to commercial supplies to the defense industry.

Michal Simecka, leader of the Slovak Progressive Party, reacts during a press conference after the country’s early parliamentary elections, in Bratislava, Slovakia, October 1, 2023. PHOTO: Rueters/Radovan Stoklasa

Illiberal turn
A government led by Fico would mark a new shift in Central Europe against political liberalism, which would be strengthened if the conservative ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party wins elections in Poland later this month.

Hungary’s Orban congratulated Fico on Sunday with a message on social network X saying: “Guess who’s back!”

“It’s always nice to work with a patriot,” he added.

Fico, who has campaigned vigorously against illegal immigration in the run-up to Saturday’s election and criticized the caretaker government for not doing more, said restoring border controls with Hungary would be a top priority .

“One of the first decisions of the government must be an order renewing border controls with Hungary,” Fico said at a press conference. “It’s not going to be a pretty picture,” he said, adding that force would be needed along the 655-kilometre-long border.

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The migrants, mainly young men from the Middle East and Afghanistan, arrive mostly via the so-called Balkan route, entering Hungary from Serbia despite a steel fence that Orban had built after the refugee crisis in 2015 which shook Europe.

Slovakia’s PS party, liberal on green policies, LGBT rights, deeper European integration and human rights, is also considering courting HLAS.

“We think this is very bad news for Slovakia,” PS leader Michal Simecka said at a press conference about the SMER-SSD victory. “And it would be even worse news if Robert Fico manages to form a government.”

Born into a working-class family, Fico earned a law degree in 1986 and joined the then-ruling Communist Party.

After the fall of the communist regime in 1989, he worked as a government lawyer, won a seat in parliament under the new communist party, and represented Slovakia at the European Court of Human Rights.

Fico has led SMER-SDD since 1999.