Fico and Lajčák have not seen eye to eye in the past few days. (source: Sme)
Will Robert Fico return to a ministerial position? The Denník N daily cites its sources as saying that the idea of Fico becoming foreign minister is a point of lively debate within the ruling Smer party.
Fico resigned as prime minister in the spring on the heels of the political crisis triggered by the double murder, and his government was replaced by that of Peter Pellegrini, but several ministers remained in their posts. Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajčák was one of them.
The post of foreign affairs minister is not vacant at this point, but if the Slovak government joins the countries that refuse the UN Migration Compact, Lajčák is likely to leave his post.
Following a major falling-out between Lajčák and Fico, due to the pact, the Foreign Affairs Committee of the parliament recommended the government not to sign the international document on November 21.
"I have a vision for the Slovak Republic and I want to represent such a Slovak Republic abroad," Lajčák told journalists on November 21, after the session of the foreign affairs committee about the pact. "If it takes the road of xenophobia, intolerance, it will need to find a different foreign minister."
The idea that Fico could replace Lajčák as foreign minister has been on the table with Smer even before Lajčák threatened to resign, Denník N wrote. The original version was that Fico would take over after Lajčák is elected president.
Smer still has not fielded its own candidate for the presidential race taking place next spring. Lajčák was reportedly their top choice, but he has been refusing to run.
The Foreign Affairs Ministry refused to comment for Denník N.
"He is no diplomat. It would not end well for Slovakia," political analyst Grigorij Mesežnikov said during a public debate at the Goethe Institute on the evening of November 22, in reaction to the Denník N report. Fico is no diplomat in terms of behaviour rather than in terms of profession, he clarified.
