Robert Fico, 59, has played a central role in Slovak politics for many years since the country gained independence in 1993, and has served as prime minister longer than any other leader.
The country gained independence in 1989 after a series of mass non-violent protests against the Communist Party of what was then still Czechoslovakia, the so-called Velvet Revolution.
Fico, who was a member of the Communist Party while in power, founded the Smer party in the late 1990s and began his first of three terms as prime minister in 2006, serving as prime minister for four years before switching to opposition after a coalition government. served as he lost the election. Slovakia is a landlocked country with a population of approximately 5 million people.
The Smer party started out on the political left, but has increasingly embraced right-wing views on immigration and cultural issues, and has ruled as part of a coalition government. Much of the international debate about Fico’s leadership in recent years has focused on his relationships with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Slovakia’s southern neighbor, Hungary.
Fico returned to power in 2012, but was replaced as prime minister in July 2018 following large demonstrations over the murder of journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancee Martina Kusnirova, who had exposed government corruption. I resigned. The protests that shook the country were the largest since the Velvet Revolution. Demonstrators demanded the government step down and new elections be held.
Slovakia ranks highly in independent assessments of press freedom, but protesters also called for deeper changes within the country that Fico has overseen.
He campaigned against the sanctions imposed on Russia after it began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and won about 23 percent of the vote to form a coalition government, which was elected last fall. He returned to power through elections. The country’s ammunition should be sent to Ukraine, he told voters.
This attitude in a country with historically pronounced pro-Russian sentiments has worried EU leaders in Brussels, with Slovakia potentially forming a pro-Russian alliance with Orbán and possibly Italian leader Georgia Meloni. He said he was concerned that he might tie the knot. This could hinder support for Ukraine in the European Union. At the time, this was also seen as a clear sign of the erosion of the pro-Ukrainian bloc that Europe had formed after the invasion.
Slovakia’s military contributions to Ukraine have been miniscule compared to countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom. But last year, Slovakia became one of several European Union countries on Ukraine’s border to block grain imports, fearing it could weaken Slovakia’s farmers.
In April, Fico’s ally Peter Pellegrini won the vote for Slovakia’s presidential candidate. Although this position is largely ceremonial, analysts say the victory could strengthen the ties between Russia-friendly political forces in Central Europe, given that Mr. Pellegrini opposed military and financial aid to Ukraine. He pointed out that his control was strengthened.
