Who remains in PM Robert Fico’s inner circle?

An emotional letter from Slovak National Party (SNS) leader Andrej Danko has lent weight to reports circulating after the May 2024 assassination attempt that Prime Minister Robert Fico has distanced himself from coalition partners, SNS and Hlas, as well as several high-ranking figures within Smer, Fico’s party.

Other politicians from the ruling coalition, speaking off the record after the attack, also noted that the prime minister had surrounded himself with an increasingly tight circle, making it difficult to reach him. Danko was the first politician to publicly speak about it.

A reaction like this following such a traumatic event – one that threatens one’s life – is not uncommon. Three psychologists interviewed by the Sme daily said that under immense stress, people can experience various difficulties, one of which can be a deep-seated distrust of those around them.

The attacker fired five shots at Fico in Handlová in May 2024, four of which hit him. He spent 16 days in hospital, underwent multiple procedures, and remained under medical care even after returning home.

Two and a half months after the attack, the prime minister posted a photo symbolically breaking his crutch, announcing that he would now walk without it. In his letter, Danko claims that Fico’s heightened suspicion and isolation have had a much longer-lasting impact on coalition governance, contributing to the current governmental crisis.

“For several months after the attack, it was impossible to talk to you,” wrote the SNS leader. “What is happening now [a coalition crisis, Ed.] is not just the result of unfulfilled ambitions and desires of dissatisfied MPs. It is happening because you live in political isolation and trust no one,” Danko added.

Today, Fico is primarily accompanied by his long-time associate and Defence Minister Robert Kaliňák (Smer), as well as indicted former police chief and deputy parliamentary speaker Tibor Gašpar (Smer), who has ties to the late businessman Miroslav Bödör, once closely connected to Fico.

Among those in Fico’s inner circle are also younger Smer members whom he elevated into high-level politics after the so-called “traitors” around Peter Pellegrini, who currently serves as Slovak president, split from Smer.

A long-standing bond with Kaliňák

Robert Kaliňák and Robert Fico in happier times (source: SITA/AP)

At a bus stop in the Dlhé Diely district of Bratislava, 29-year-old Robert Fico waited for public transport. It was 1993, and with his car broken down, he had no choice but to take a bus to his job at the Justice Ministry’s Institute.

Passing by in his Škoda Favorit was a young law student and budding entrepreneur, Robert Kaliňák. He stopped and asked Fico if he needed a lift.