Robert Fico at the Government Office. (source: Sme - Jozef Jakubčo)
Welcome to your weekly commentary and overview of news from Slovakia. Fico makes his hostility to the media known. Courts cancel the actions of the interior minister. The Slovak government says it won’t agree to some sanctions against Russia.
If you have a suggestion on how to make this overview better, let me know at michaela.terenzani@spectator.sk.
Who gets to ask questions?
“We believe freedom of expression to be not just the spreading of positive and pretty information; freedom of expression is also the spreading of critical, sometimes shocking information, and that is what we need Markíza for, to carry out this freedom of expression, as understood by the whole of Europe and not just a part of the Slovak political spectrum.” These were the words of a young Robert Fico, proclaiming his belief in media freedom to a crowd of protesters who had come to defend the private TV station Markíza from a hostile takeover in September 1998.
Markíza was among the free media essential to the defeat of Vladimir Mečiar and his authoritarian-leaning regime in Slovakia that year. Later that very month, the opposition won the election and re-oriented Slovakia towards a Euro-Atlantic path.
Fast forward 25 years and, as Fico takes over as prime minister for the fourth time (his first victory was in 2006), he is playing a rather different tune. Now Markíza is one of four “hostile media” that he says are not welcome at the Government Office.
