“Fico’s visit to Moscow was a humiliation for Slovakia,” Michal Simecka, leader of the Slovak Progressive Party and Fico’s biggest political rival, told POLITICO. “But it is part of a larger story about a prime minister who appears uninterested in dealing with the real problems plaguing Slovaks. Instead, he travels around the world meeting dictators.”
Šimečka said the entire opposition party wants Slovakia to be firmly entrenched in the EU and NATO, and Fico’s meeting with Putin finally convinced them to take action.
“Slovakia is not just Robert Pico,” he added. “There are a huge number of people who want Slovakia to become part of a free and democratic Europe. Because it is good for Slovakia to have good relations with our neighbors, to promote our interests constructively and to work to strengthen Europe as a whole. ”
A successful vote of no confidence will trigger a snap election. According to a recent January opinion poll, the liberal opposition Progressive Slovakia was the most popular party with 23.9% of support, while ruling Fico’s Smer came in second with 18%. .
Fico himself has hinted that snap elections could be an option if his coalition partner Hlas and the far-right Slovak People’s Party fail to resolve their differences in parliament. The coalition government holds an overwhelming majority of seats, with 76 out of 150 seats, compared to the opposition party’s 71 seats and the independents’ 3 seats.
“No matter what the results are, I am convinced that snap elections are the best solution in a situation where the government has a weak majority and there is instability and chaos,” Šimečka said.
A vote of no confidence must take place within a week, but no date has yet been set.
Fico agreed to meet with Putin in a last-ditch effort to secure cheap Russian gas for Slovakia after Ukraine ended its transit agreement with Gazprom. His visit to Moscow disappointed not only the Slovak opposition but also its European allies, who have painstakingly put together 15 separate sanctions packages over the past three years to punish Moscow for its unprovoked war on Ukraine.
Fico’s office did not respond to POLITICO’s request for comment.
