Who is Robert Fico? Slovakian PM, seriously injured in shooting, admires Putin and Orban

Robert Fico is a Slovakian politician serving his third term as prime minister of the central European country. On Wednesday, he was shot in the town of Handlova, where he had been meeting supporters, and taken to hospital.

Who is Robert Fico?

Born into a working-class family on September 15th 1964, Fico – a lawyer by profession – began his political career with the Communist Party shortly before the 1989 Velvet Revolution that led to the break-up of former Czechoslovakia.

He was Slovakia’s representative to the European Court of Human Rights from 1994 to 2000 and set up his centre-left Smer-SD party in 1999 after being turned down for a ministerial post by the Democratic Left, the Communists’ political heirs.

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Smer won a landslide victory in 2006, catapulting Fico into the prime minister’s seat two years after Slovakia joined the EU. In 2009, he led his country into the euro zone, but was unable to form a coalition the following year despite winning elections.

He scored another landslide in 2012 after the fall of a centre-right coalition over corruption allegations, and won again in 2016 – but had to resign two years later amid mass protests over the murder of an investigative journalist and his fiancee. In October, he returned for a third-term as prime minister at the head of a populist-nationalist coalition.

Embroiled in allegations of corruption he has always denied, Fico is brash and outspoken, with a penchant for bodybuilding, football and fast cars.

What are his politics?

Fico admires both Vladimir Putin, saying he would not permit the Russian president’s arrest under an international warrant if he came to Slovakia, and Hungary’s illiberal leader, Viktor Orban, “who defends the interests of his country and his people”.

The Smer leader is also a tactician: in a three-decade career, he has navigated successfully between mainstream, pro-EU positions and a fiercely nationalist, anti-western rhetoric destined mainly for domestic consumption, proving more than willing to change tack depending on public opinion or political reality.

[ Slovakia’s Fico gets two weeks to form government after election win ]

[ Slovakian election is another bloody nose for pro-EU forces ]

Saying he has only Slovakian interests at heart, Fico has been outspoken on numerous issues, savaging the EU and international NGOs, insulting his rivals, falsely alleging a coup plot and claiming last year’s election would be rigged.

He is also fiercely opposed to immigration – a key factor in his 2016 election win – and rejects “a distinct Muslim community in Slovakia”. More recently, he has criticised same-sex marriage and described adoption by same-sex couples as a “perversion”.

During the Covid pandemic he became the country’s most prominent voice against masks, lockdowns and vaccination. Before taking up office again in October, he exploited high levels of pro-Russian sentiment in Slovakia to undermine the government’s pro-western course.

What has happened in his third term as prime minister?

Critics worry that Fico is abandoning Slovakia’s pro-western stance and following the direction of Hungary under Orban. Thousands of people have rallied in the capital and across Slovakia to protest against Fico’s policies.

In February, MPs approved legal changes that scrapped a special prosecutor’s office dealing with high-level corruption, lowered penalties for financial crimes, and cut the statute of limitations for rape.

In April, the government approved a proposal to abolish the public broadcaster and replace it with a new body. The plan has drawn fierce criticism from opposition parties, who say it will give the government full control of public radio and television.

Also in April, Peter Pellegrini, a Ukraine-sceptic and close ally of Fico, won a run-off vote in presidential elections against the liberal, pro-western opposition candidate, Ivan Korcok.

Pellegrini is due to succeed Zuzana Caputova, the country’s first female head of state. Caputova, a staunch backer of neighbouring Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s invasion, announced she would not run for re-election last June after receiving death threats. – Guardian