Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán (L) and the then Slovak PM Robert Fico (R) meet in Bratislava on October 13, 2017. (source: SME - Jozef Jakubčo)
Welcome to your weekly commentary and overview of news from Slovakia. Fico reveals his desires on Hungarian TV, and damns support for Ukraine. Slovak MPs to discuss sending MiGs to Zelensky. The man who oversaw taxes under Smer and is now testifying about corruption is sentenced.
When Igor Matovič dethroned Smer in 2020, many worried that he would not be up to the job of leading the country. That fear has turned out to be more than justified, with Matovič lasting little more than a year as prime minister and demonstrating on an almost daily basis since that the concerns about his character were entirely warranted. But in the immediate aftermath of that 2020 election, which put an end to the Smer party’s long run in government, some people commented that the unconventional leader of OĽaNO deserved to be the one to defeat Fico, given all the work, vigour and fearlessness that he had put into the task.
None of that applies in 2023. After three years of government by a shifting but always OĽaNO-led grouping of parties, and with an early general election date now set for September, there is a very real prospect that Smer’s leader, Robert Fico, will return to power. What would that mean for the country? There is no need to guess: Fico has been laying out his vision quite plainly.
