Last Week: As disease spreads, Fico no longer insists on a “different opinion” 

Welcome to your weekly commentary and overview of news from Slovakia. An emergency situation is declared as Slovak authorities try to contain the spread of foot-and-mouth disease – with the help of its EU partners. Parliament gets a speaker after a vacancy of almost one year. The general prosecutor could be in for a very cushy retirement, as rumours spread that he might step down to make way for a Smer stooge.

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The spread of a disease suddenly worries Fico

Slovakia’s prime minister typically has little good to say about “Brussels”, as he terms it, on any matter. But when the latest crisis hit Slovakia, he knew better than to insist on pursuing an “alternative opinion”. 

Before the weekend was out, foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) had been confirmed at five locations in Slovakia. Four are in the south, where, according to experts from the European Commission, it was likely carried via airborne transmission from an ongoing outbreak in neighbouring Hungary. But on Sunday evening, the authorities confirmed the disease had also been also detected at a large  farm owned by a Danish corporation much further north, near the Czech border. Reports suggest the farm had contact with another in Hungary. 

The spread of the disease – which, with very rare exceptions, is not harmful to humans – is mainly an economic issue and the government has already said that it will cost Slovakia tens of millions of euros. But since standard preventive measures involve the culling of farm animals within a three-kilometre radius of each location where the disease is confirmed, it also involves emotions. And where there is emotion, there will certainly be politics.