Robert Fico, Prime Minister of Slovakia, shot dead Today, Wednesday, he came to power for the fourth time in October, but with his country’s foreign policy shifting toward more pro-Russian positions.
He also initiated criminal law and media reforms, raising concerns about the possible weakening of the rule of law.
In a career spanning three decades, 59-year-old Fico skillfully vacillated between pro-European and nationalist positions, anti-Brussels and anti-American sentiments, demonstrating a willingness to change course depending on public opinion or the evolution of political reality.
Fico promises to stop military support for Ukraine
Over the past four years, he has demonstrated a critical stance that includes Western allies, promises to end military support for Kyiv, opposition to sanctions on Russia and threats to veto any future invitation to Ukraine to join NATO.
Your coalition stopped official supplies of Slovak weapons to Ukraine and spoke of what he called Western influence in the war, which only resulted in the Slavic peoples killing each other.
Fico remains steadfast in his promises to protect the living standards of those left behind in a country where conditions for many are only slowly catching up with those of Western Europe and where many have relatively fond memories of the communist past.
“Fico is a strength coach, by far the best in Slovakia. At the moment he doesn’t have a partner,” said sociologist Michal Vasecka from the Bratislava Institute of Politics. “Fico always follows opinion polls, he understands what is happening” in society.
“Even the attack” on Ukraine did not attract voters
His campaign slogan of “Don’t attack” Ukraine appealed to voters in that country of 5.5 million, where only a minority of NATO countries believe Russia is to blame for the war in Ukraine.
Fico, whom analysts say is inspired by Hungary’s Viktor Orban, said he cares about Slovakia’s interests and wants to end the war.
Lawyer and Communist Party member
Fico was born into a working-class family, received 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 from the renamed Communist Party and represented Slovakia at the European Court of Human Rights.
Fico has led the SMER-Social Democracy party since 1999.after creating it to oppose the center-right reformist cabinet.
He wins his first victory thanks to dissatisfaction with liberal economic reforms.
Dissatisfaction with liberal economic reforms brought him his first election victory in 2006. But it also kept the country on track to adopt the euro in 2009, despite forming a nationalist government.
Two years later, after another center-right coalition collapsed, he won a second term, and his strong stance on immigrants helped him be re-elected in 2016.
After this victory, he said that he wanted Slovakia to become part of the core of the EU, along with France and Germany.
Political decline and resignation
Fico’s political fortunes took a turn for the worse in 2018 when the gunman killed journalist Jan Kuciak, who was investigating high-level bribery, and his fiancée Martina Kusnirova.
The crime sparked widespread protests against corruption and Fico was forced to resign.
SMER lost power in the 2020 elections against parties that promised to end corruption, and his party split.
The moment when Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico was shot:
With turnout below 10%, Fico once tried to respond to voters’ concerns during the coronavirus pandemic when he criticized the government’s health measures.
In doing so, he took advantage of dissatisfaction with differences in power and questioned his pro-Western orientation, which coincided with pro-Russian discourse on social networks that spread throughout Slovakia.
Fico toodropped corruption charges which haunted his party during his political career.
In 2022, he was charged with conspiracy to use information about political enemies by police and prosecutors. He denied the charges, which were later dropped. (Reuters)
Source: Aristegui Noticias
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