Boris Zala is a philosopher and former Smer politician. He also served as MEP in the past. (source: SME - Jozef Jakubčo)
The author is a philosopher, former politician and MEP.
I was wandering the streets of Córdoba, Spain, when a journalist from Czech Public Radio contacted me to comment on Robert Fico's first speech after the shooting attack on May 15. I immediately listened to it several times, then read the initial reactions, and over the following days, I also read the commentaries.
I was surprised that I could not find anyone who had noticed what message Prime Minister Fico was sending to the country and its citizens. Most focused on whether his language pointed toward any form of reconciliation, and commentators unanimously concluded that it more confirmed the deepening of "hatred".
Manifesto of national conservatism
I read his speech completely differently. Fico delivered, literally and figuratively, a "manifesto of national conservatism". And he did it thoughtfully and consistently. All the chosen themes are from the repertoire and vocabulary of the far-right.
The core of the far-right's struggle and distinction from other parties has become straightforward anti-European vocabulary, anti-Brussels symbolism.
The prime minister does not dissect specific EU policies, but shoots symbolic arrows: the EU recognises "only one opinion". "Great democracies" impose their truth on us, the "small" ones. We, the "small" ones, must maintain our sovereignty.
