Born on September 15, 1964, Robert Fico, who still exists today target of an assassination attemptHe became the country’s prime minister in 2023. He also served as prime minister for two more terms, from 2006 to 2010 and from 2012 to 2018.
A lawyer by profession, he began his political career with the Communist Party shortly before the 1989 riots that led to the dissolution of the former Czechoslovakia.
Establish center-left party Smer-SD in 1999after being rejected for a ministerial position by the Democratic Left, the political heirs of the communists.
The longest-serving prime minister in the country’s history
O Roberto Ficoholds your record longest-serving prime minister in the country’s history, having served in total for more than 10 years. He was first elected to Parliament in 1992 (in united Czechoslovakia) and later appointed to the Council of Europe.
In a career that spans three decades, he has successfully navigated a wide range of positions: while embracing the mainstream pro-European views and, at times, injecting strongly nationalist and anti-Western rhetoric aimed primarily at domestic consumption.
In these 30 years he has shown himself to be more than willing (and capable) of changing course depending on public opinion or the political situation.
After his party’s victory in the 2006 parliamentary elections, he formed his first government.
After the 2010 parliamentary elections, he served as an opposition deputy, effectively holding the position of opposition leader.
The resignation
On 15 March 2018, due to the political crisis that followed the assassination of Jan Kuciak, Fico submitted his resignation to President Andrzej Kiska, who then formally tasked Deputy Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini with forming a new government.
“If Smer enters the government, we will not send a single bullet of ammunition to Ukraine,” he told his supporters during his election campaign.
The comparison with Orban
This, along with his pledge to resist Western sanctions against Russia, has led some observers to compare him to Hungary’s far-right populist prime minister, Viktor Orbán.
During the 2023 parliamentary elections, Fico campaigned to end military support for Ukraine.
His party (Smer) obtained the highest number of votes in the elections, with 22.95% of the votes and winning 42 seats.
Fico formed a coalition government with Hlas and the Slovak National Party and began his fourth term as prime minister on 25 October.
The Fico administration has flatly refused to join a Czech-led coalition of about 20 states to provide military aid to Ukraine.
Involved in allegations of corruption that he has always denied, Fico is impetuous and direct, with a preference for bodybuilding, football and fast cars.
Your admiration for Putin
I admire him a lot Vladimir Putin, saying he would not allow the Russian president to be arrested on the basis of an international warrant if he came to Slovakia, as well as Hungary’s illiberal leader, Viktor Orbán, “who defends the interests of his country and his people.”
Constantly repeating that only Slovak interests are at the center of his politics, Fico has sometimes angered the EU and international NGOs, insulted his opponents and made allegations of a coup plot and electoral fraud.
He is also strongly opposed to immigration – an issue that was a key factor in his 2016 election victory. He rejects ideas of “a separate Muslim community in Slovakia” and has more recently criticized same-sex marriage and described adoption by same-sex couples as. “perversion”.
During the Covid pandemic, he became the country’s most important voice against the masks, locks and vaccination. Before taking office again in October, he took advantage of high levels of pro-Russian sentiment in Slovakia to undermine the government’s pro-Western direction.
With information from: The Guardian, BBC, Sky News