Welcome to your weekly commentary and overview of news from Slovakia. Fico’s austerity package sails through parliament at high speed, followed immediately by the smokescreen constitutional changes passed in Friday’s shock vote. Plagiarism is added to the many reasons why Slovakia’s intelligence agency chief is not fit for his role.
If you have a suggestion on how to make this overview better, let me know at michaela.terenzani@spectator.sk.
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Constitution as a grand diversion
Robert Fico once again proved that even with his political drive visibly waning, he is still capable of gathering his forces for a winning manoeuvre in a moment of need.
The vote on the constitutional amendment that he proposed to build, as he put it, a “dam against progressivism” was set for failure, yet it came through – thanks to two surprise “ayes” from MPs Marek Krajčí and Rastislav Krátky, close collaborators of the self-proclaimed “fighter against the mafia” Igor Matovič. By mafia, Matovič means Fico’s Smer party, and his own movement’s members had sworn that they would walk out during the vote – only to change their minds just before it actually took place.
Let’s break down last week’s events to understand why the amendment was suddenly rushed through parliament, what was so shocking about Friday’s vote, and what the changes really mean.
Why amend the constitution last week?
What exactly does the amendment change?
What happened to the parliamentary maths on Friday?
Why amend the constitution at all?
What does it mean for the opposition?
Why amend the constitution last week?
The fact that the postponed final vote on the amendment was pending in the house came in handy for the ruling coalition, which has the power to rearrange parliament’s agenda at short notice to suit its own political purposes. Coalition leaders decided on the constitutional vote after passing their third austerity package on Wednesday.
Robert Fico did his best to distract the public’s attention from what really came down with the consolidation of public finances, which for now mostly means income tax hikes for the self-employed, higher payroll taxes for everyone, higher VAT on a number of foodstuffs, higher insurance tax, and some scrapped public holidays – and these are just a handful of examples that will have an immediate effect on Slovakia’s inhabitants once they come into effect on January 1 next year.
Finance Minister Ladislav Kamenický wasn’t even in the house when MPs voted on his austerity package on Wednesday. PM Fico made no immediate comments. At the time of the vote, he posted a picture of himself in sports gear in front of the Government Office, saying there’s nothing like sports to relax him after a long day’s work. “Good night, friends!” he signed off.
