Fico needs new enemy, says opposition MP. Brussels may be it

Prime Minister Robert Fico, who chairs the strongest coalition party Smer, suggests that Brussels might punish Slovakia for electing his coalition partner, Peter Pellegrini, the next Slovak president, last weekend.

“I wouldn’t be surprised at all if the European Commission froze our funds for purely political reasons and due to the result of the presidential election,” declared Fico in his latest Facebook video.

He pointed out that the Party of European Socialists (PES) suspended Smer’s membership after the party won last year’s parliamentary elections. PES decided to suspend the party’s membership after it formed a coalition with Slovenská Národná Strana, a nationalist party chaired by pro-Russian politician Andrej Danko, and the Hlas party.

In recent months, the European Commission has repeatedly warned Fico’s cabinet against adopting bills that threaten the rule of law and European values, including the amendments to the Penal Code and the Competence Act. The European Parliament has also adopted the new European Media Act, which makes it difficult for Fico to take over the public broadcaster.

In this regard, Fico announced that Slovakia is holding a tough expert and political discussion with the Commission. The debate concerns the cancellation of the Special Prosecutor’s Office and the defence of the new Penal Code, which the Constitutional Court has suspended.

The last meeting with the head of Europe Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, “significantly dynamised certain processes”, said Fico.

In response to Fico’s comments, Progresívne Slovensko MP Beáta Jurík said that Fico is trying to find a new enemy after Pellegrini’s victory. Pellegrini will replace President Zuzana Čaputová, whom Fico has been portraying as the opposition’s spokesperson and the agent of foreign countries for years, in mid-June.

“After taking control of all constitutional positions (president, speaker of parliament, and premier, ed.), Fico no longer has anyone to blame at home. So he started ranting about the EU,” she said on April 9.

The opposition MP called on the premier to admit that his government has made mistakes.

Fico continues to smear judges

On Monday, Fico used the press conference to attack Supreme Court Judge Juraj Kliment and Supreme Court Judge Peter Štift, accusing them of deciding arbitrarily in high-profile cases again. During the press conference, he also showed excerpts from some decisions of the Constitutional Court that reportedly prove the violation of human rights by the Supreme Court judges. The premier called on the representatives of the judiciary to initiate disciplinary proceedings against these judges.

“There’s no other way around this,” he said, talking of the judges subverting the rule of law.

Justice Minister Boris Susko (Smer) could also initiate such proceedings. Fico didn’t say if Susko would make this move. Instead, he went on to criticise Supreme Court President Ján Šikuta for defending Kliment and criticising Fico’s attacks on judges. Šikuta, according to Fico, has initiated a disciplinary action against Kliment over a physical attack on his fellow judge Peter Paluda.

“What stars they are,” Fico said ironically. “A Supreme Court judge attacks his colleague in parking space.”

Opposition leader and Progresívne Slovensko party leader Michal Šimečka described Fico’s recent statements about the judges as undignified.

“I urge Roberto Fico to come to his senses and stop kicking everyone around like a maniac,” he added.

After the presidential election, Fico has publicly mocked psychologist Matúš Bakyta as well. The psychologist told the Denník N daily that he had to take a pill when he learned about the outcome of the presidential election.

“When I woke up Sunday night and read the election results, I was glad I had my anti-anxiety medicine at home. It helped me cope with the first huge wave of disappointment, helped me sleep for a few more hours and hope that it was just a bad dream. In the morning I was grateful that I could hug my wife and dog, although we were both devastated by the news,” Bakyta said.

“Have we gone out of our minds in this country?” Fico said, calling on people to respect the outcome of the election.

Last December, Fico decided to mock a law student after this student criticised Eduard Burda, the dean of the law faculty in Bratislava, for defending the abolishing of the Special Prosecutor’s Office. He called the student “unimportant” and poked fun at his appearance.

Public media remain a priority

In his latest video, Fico also underscored that the coalition will have to deal with several sensitive matters quickly and resolutely, including the public broadcaster’s “illegal political influence”.

In reaction, RTVS CEO Ľuboš Machaj has called on the government to focus on a constructive dialogue about the functioning of public media in society, instead of creating a negative picture of public media.