{"id":416243,"date":"2025-01-15T13:47:52","date_gmt":"2025-01-15T12:47:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2025\/01\/15\/slovacchia-opposizioni-censura-fico\/"},"modified":"2025-01-15T16:08:06","modified_gmt":"2025-01-15T15:08:06","slug":"oppositions-in-slovakia-form-common-front-against-pm-fico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2025\/01\/15\/oppositions-in-slovakia-form-common-front-against-pm-fico\/","title":{"rendered":"Oppositions in Slovakia form common front against PM Fico"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels – Something seems to be moving in Bratislava, where the opposition parties are trying to join forces<\/strong> to send pro-Russian Prime Minister Robert Fico<\/strong> home. As they seek\u00a0to unseat him, they may get the crucial help of a handful of deputies from the ruling majority<\/strong>, which in recent months seems crippled by internal disagreements within the coalition parties.<\/p>\n

During an unprecedented joint press conference<\/strong> yesterday (Jan. 14), leaders of major Slovak opposition parties<\/strong> announced<\/a> that they would coordinate to put an end to the government<\/strong> of Robert Fico<\/strong>, already premier twice\u00a0(2006 to 2010 and 2012 to 2018) at the helm of SMER<\/strong>, a left-wing populist party<\/strong> <\/strong>suspended from the Party of European Socialists\u00a0in October 2023 for its pro-Russian\u00a0positions<\/strong> <\/strong>and for having formed a coalition executive with the right-wing nationalist Slovak National Party (SNS)<\/strong>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Towards Moscow with fury<\/h3>\n

The most significant concern of opposition parties\u00a0is the prime minister’s carefree\u00a0foreign policy<\/strong>: Under his leadership, they say, Bratislava is moving too close to Moscow<\/strong> and away from traditional Euro-Atlantic alliances.<\/p>\n

Fico has repeatedly questioned<\/strong>\u00a0military support for Ukraine<\/strong>, suspended sending arms<\/strong> to the former Soviet republic, announced the Slovakian veto to Kyiv’s entry into the EU and NATO<\/strong>, and, most importantly and surprisingly,<\/strong> went to the Kremlin to meet<\/a> Russian President Vladimir Putin,<\/strong> sparking a quagmire of controversy both at home and in Brussels.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Fico<\/a>
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico (left) meets Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin, Dec. 22, 2024 (photo: Gavriil Grigorov\/Afp via Sputnik)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n

During his controversial pre-Christmas visit, the Slovak premier tried to\u00a0secure<\/a> the flow of cheap Russian gas<\/strong> to his country after the suspension\u00a0of\u00a0transit via Ukraine<\/strong>,\u00a0offering<\/a> to host future peace talks<\/strong> between Putin and the next US\u00a0President,\u00a0Donald Trump,<\/strong> (a candidacy\u00a0later emulated<\/a>\u00a0by\u00a0Berne<\/strong> and Belgrade<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

No-confidence vote<\/h3>\n

So, yesterday afternoon, the parliamentary oppositions (PS, SaS, and KDH)\u00a0invited the extra-parliamentary Sdk\u00fa-Ds movement and the SLOVENSKO party (formerly known as Ol’ano), led by the controversial former premier Igor Matovi\u010d, to join forces to dethrone the premier and put the country back on a solidly pro-Western political course.<\/p>\n

The step-up\u00a0should\u00a0come through a motion of no-confidence in the government<\/strong> to be submitted\u00a0to the Chamber at the earliest opportunity, which could already be on January 21. Fico said he would personally attend the extraordinary session<\/strong> and ensure\u00a0that\u00a0deputies of the ruling coalition are present so\u00a0that the quorum<\/i> for the vote is reached.<\/p>\n

The leader of the opposition in the House, Michal \u0160ime\u010dka<\/strong> (PS),\u00a0stressed<\/a> the need for the parties involved, whose political platforms are decidedly heterogeneous, to send a message of unity against the premier<\/strong>, who “flies around the world, bows to dictators<\/strong>, enjoys luxury<\/strong> somewhere in Vietnam, insults our neighbors and partners<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

The reference to dictators evidently relates to the meeting with Putin<\/strong>, while the one to Vietnam relates to an alleged stay by\u00a0Fico in a luxury hotel<\/strong> in the Asian country while at home, the population grapples\u00a0with the exploding cost of living and the crisis of the healthcare system. Even Branislav Gr\u00f6hling<\/strong> (SaS) reiterated that anti-Fico forces must align to “save Slovakia”<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\n

Today, the entire opposition united to take action against the government of Robert Fico. There are many differences between us, both in opinion and in policy style, but when it comes to defending democracy and freedom in Slovakia, we can work together. We agreed on two fundamental points: pic.twitter.com\/mMp3CL3Nis<\/a><\/p>\n

– Michal \u0160ime\u010dka (@MSimecka) January 14, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The numbers in the Chamber<\/h3>\n

In Slovakia’s single-chamber parliament, the opposition holds 71 of the total 150 seats, but a censure of the government will require at least 76 votes<\/strong>.\u00a0However, given the disagreements within the governing coalition, some majority MPs may slip out and vote against their executive<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In recent months, the parliamentary groups of the\u00a0SMER, HLAS, and SNS<\/strong>\u00a0partners<\/strong> did not give their support on several occasions,\u00a0paralyzed by internal disagreements<\/strong> due, among other things, to growing impatience with the premier’s pro-Russian tendencies.\u00a0<\/strong>Some deputies have publicly distanced themselves from Fico’s trip to Moscow while simultaneously announcing that they would travel to Kyiv<\/strong> to express solidarity with the Ukrainian people.<\/p>\n

In this context, on January 12, Fico gave<\/a> an\u00a0ultimatum<\/i> to his allies, threatening early elections<\/strong> or, as an alternative, a government reshuffle<\/strong> if the internal issues are not resolved by March.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Impatience with the prime minister’s closeness to Vladimir Putin’s Russia is growing in Bratislava, even within the increasingly shaky governing coalition itself. Parliamentary minority parties try to organize a motion of no confidence<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7876,"featured_media":416235,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25681],"tags":[25802,26458,30179,30180,26359,27555,26360,28037],"class_list":["post-416243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-motion-of-confidence-en","tag-oppositions-en","tag-robert-fico-en","tag-gas-russo-en","tag-slovakia-and","tag-smer-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7876"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=416243"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416243\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":416257,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416243\/revisions\/416257"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/416235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=416243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=416243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=416243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}