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Fico’s precarious balancing act in Slovakia

Slovakia’s prime minister, Robert Fico, is now in a precarious position. He cannot overly offend his country’s partners and Brussels as he depends on European funding. At the same time, he has promised his electorate a hard-line approach to Ukraine and a more confrontational approach to the West. As he floods the media space with misinformation to distract the society, he may find in the end that this balancing act is more difficult to maintain than he realizes.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has had a tough time balancing his efforts to keep his hold on power, all while grappling with contradictions in his policies: sending military assistance to Ukraine, despite campaigning on the promise to “not send another bullet”; travelling to Moscow to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin; keeping his nationalist coalition allies satisfied; and managing his pro-EU image in Brussels.

May 5, 2025 - Jakub Ferenčik - AnalysisIssue 3 2025Magazine

Robert Fico speaking at the 2025 CPAC Conference in the United States. Similar to his far-right peers, Fico uses disinformation in the rapidly changing media landscape to distract Slovakia’s population from his kleptocratic ambitions and changes to the legal system. Photo: Gage Skidmore (CC) www.flickr.com

In order to stay in power, Fico knows that he must keep all these things in check. He must appear pro-EU and pro-Ukraine enough to his colleagues in Brussels in order to not lose precious EU subsidies. He must look like he cares about his voters enough to keep their vote, so he gives them larger pensions while ignoring the rapid brain drain the country faces due, in large part, to his mismanagement of the country. He must participate in culture war issues enough to prevent the media and population the mental space, energy and capacity to focus on his changes to the judiciary that make it more difficult to put his cronies behind bars. In all of this, Fico looks to his Hungarian counterpart to the south for inspiration and guidance.

A softer Orbán

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