2024-03-09 06:06:31
In the less than five months since he became Slovakia’s prime minister for the fourth time, Robert Fico managed to worsen relations with the Czech Republic due to his pro-Russian statements to such an extent that Petr Fiala’s government broke off negotiations with his cabinet. Slovak opposition leader Michal Šimečka claims in an interview for Aktuálně.cz that if Fico continues to take similar steps, the opposition and civil society will take action against him.
The leader of the strongest opposition party Progresivní Slovensko Šimečka went to the Czech Republic this week, where he is trying to settle Czech-Slovak relations. “I am very sorry that we got into this situation. It took Vladimír Mečiar years to get Czech-Slovak relations into such a crisis, Fico succeeded in a few months. I hope we will overcome it,” he says.
Šimečka reminds that the end of the joint session of the two governments does not mean a complete break in relations. Czechs and Slovaks will continue to work together, including at the level of ministries. According to him, neither the government nor Fico can devalue the closeness of the two nations.
According to him, the statements of the members of the Slovak government, which trivialize who is the victim and who is the aggressor in Ukraine, are unacceptable and rightly arouse indignation. “But I have absolutely no doubt that Petr Fial, as well as other Czech representatives, care about good relations with Slovakia and mean it sincerely,” he adds, adding that he can only respect the government’s decision to suspend joint negotiations.
“Fic’s Smér-SD won the elections legitimately, it is pursuing a foreign policy that is fundamentally opposed to me, but it is their right. However, it has a fragile majority in the parliament,” says the Slovak politician. According to him, the opposition has already shown that it can avert some dangers. The Smér-SD party with the coalition party Hlas and the Slovak National Party have 79 deputies in the 150-member parliament.
For several months, Fico tried to change the criminal law in Slovakia, but according to Šimečka, he did not achieve his goal. “Thanks to the opposition, protests lasting eight weeks in a row, and thanks to the correct decision of President Zuzana Čaputová and finally the Constitutional Court, his amendment has been suspended. We will defend the rule of law in Slovakia as long as necessary. We have more tools for this, including unparliamentary,” he says. The changes by which Fico’s government wants to reduce penalties for corruption and economic crime have also been criticized by the institutions of the European Union.
Fico did not question our obligations and membership towards NATO, says Šimečka
Last summer, before the Slovak parliamentary elections, Šimečka warned that with Fic at the head, his country could end up in international isolation alongside Hungary. Now he’s hoping his campaign predictions don’t come true. “One thing is the political representation and the government. The other thing is the overall attitude of Slovakia, which is pro-European and open to help Ukraine,” claims Šimečka.
He believes that a large part of Slovaks realizes that Slovakia’s security interests and guarantees are in NATO and the West. “I still don’t stop believing that even the people in the Direction are aware of this,” he says.
He also draws attention to the fact that he has not yet heard from the Slovak government questioning membership or the fulfillment of obligations in NATO. “Slovakia had a reputation as a responsible and legible partner. We have to believe that it will not be lost, and I will strive for it from my position as the leader of the strongest opposition party,” he says.