MOSCOW, Oct 13, Mikhail Katkov. Leader of the Smer party, ex-Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico has almost formed a ruling coalition with the socialists from Golos and the far-right Slovak National Party (SNS). We signed a memorandum of understanding. What does this mean for Moscow and Kyiv — in the material .
Return to the throne Smer won the recent elections with 22.94 percent of voters supporting her. Golos has 14.7 percent, SNS has 5.62. Apparently, it is Fico who will head the Cabinet. At least, the head of Golos, Peter Pellegrini, said that he was not applying for this post. Chairman of the SNS Andrei Danko — even more so.
The leader of the opposition party Smer Robert Fico at the party headquarters the day after the early parliamentary elections in Slovakia
Apparently, Pellegrini will become speaker. He said that he did not want to be in the same government with Fico, and his wish would come true. Smer will receive six ministerial portfolios, Golos — seven, SNS — three.
Experts expect that Fico's party will go to the Ministry of Defense. It will most likely be headed by Smer Vice Chairman Robert Kaliniak. And also the ministries of foreign affairs, education, justice, agriculture, finance. «Voice» will be trusted by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Economy, the Ministry of Labor, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Information Technology.
The SNA will be satisfied by the Ministries of Tourism, Environment and Culture. It is noteworthy that the SNS has only ten deputies in parliament, of which only Danko is a member of the party. However, without the far right, Smer would not have been able to create a coalition.
Reaction of neighbors Fico has already warned that he will not give up his anti-Ukrainian views, even despite threats and blackmail from the European Union. This is how he reacted to the fact that Smer was about to be expelled from the Party of European Socialists in the European Parliament. Fico is confident that Kyiv has no chance of joining the EU in the foreseeable future. According to him, those who claim the opposite give Ukrainians false hopes.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba hastened to reassure the public: the new authorities of Slovakia may create some problems, but will not prevent them from joining the EU and NATO. There are no forces in the West that can stop the European integration of Kiev, he is sure.
Slovak President Zuzana Caputova and leader of the opposition party Smer Robert Fico during a meeting in Bratislava
Meanwhile, when Fico had just started negotiations on the coalition, the outgoing Slovak authorities announced that they would not supply weapons to Kyiv. Obviously, in this way, President Zuzana Caputova tried to lure Golos to the side of her own party, Progressive Slovakia. The official explanation is as follows: it is necessary to express respect for the results of the parliamentary elections. In general, in any case, the interests of the Kyiv regime will suffer.
Prospects for SlovakiaThe almost formed coalition cannot be called strong. The weak link is the «Voice». Two years ago, this party split from Smer because it did not want to be associated with Fico. And if Smer during the election campaign called not to support “fascist” Ukraine, then “Voice” repeated the Brussels-Washington narrative.
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and Slovak Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini during a meeting
Associate Professor of the Russian State University for the Humanities, specialist on Slovakia Vadim Trukhachev believes that Fico will not be able to pursue the policy that Moscow would like to see. After all, Euro-Atlantic parties received a total of 47 percent, pro-Russian parties — 34, centrists — 17. Smer will have to make compromises. And the coalition will probably fall apart within six months.
“Fico was lucky that at this stage “Progressive Slovakia” turned out to be unable to negotiate, and the European Union put too much pressure. If “Golos” had entered into an alliance with the liberals, voters would not have understood this,” the expert argues.
Robert Fico
Nevertheless, taking into account the political forces that are now operating in Bratislava, everything is working out optimally for Russia. At a minimum, you can count on the fact that Slovakia will not only stop supplying weapons to the Kiev regime (of which there are almost none left), but will also cut off transit from NATO countries, as they did in Hungary.
“It was impossible to come up with anything better in this situation. But in the presidential elections in six months, the pro-European opposition will try to take revenge. The president has the right to veto government decisions. To override it, the parliament needs 90 votes out of 150, while the ruling coalition has only 79.” , — Trukhachev clarifies.
President of Slovakia Zuzana Caputova
Analyst at the Financial University under the Government of Russia Denis Denisov does not think that the coalition will fall apart quickly. “Although Slovakia is a small country, they have always tried to defend sovereignty. The outgoing authorities did not do this. And therefore they lost the elections. Fico and his allies do not want to repeat their mistakes,” he says.
But the leadership of Slovakia may not have enough political will and economic resources to confront the European Union, the expert adds. Bratislava will probably use its position on Ukraine as a tool for bargaining with Brussels.