Summary of the day
Robert Fico, leader of the populist Smer party, formally took over as prime minister of Slovakia amid questions about the future direction of the country’s foreign policy.
Donald Tusk, the Polish opposition candidate for prime minister who is set to become the country’s next leader, visited Brussels in a bid to restore Warsaw’s position on the European stage and press for unfreezing EU funds.
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said that “the voice of Poland is crucial” as she met with Tusk to discuss Ukraine, security, economic policy and EU funds.
Peter Bárdy, editor-in-chief of Aktuality.sk, said Fico “will be the head of the octopus that will want to hijack the state” and “will largely copy Viktor Orbán’s foreign policy.”
Milan Nič, a senior fellow at the German Council on Foreign Relations, said a “big question” is whether other EU leaders will engage with Fico when he attends a summit in Brussels tomorrow.
Michal Ovádek, a lecturer at University College London, said that when it comes to Fico pragmatism “could win out” and that political and economic factors could mitigate illiberal tendencies.
Andrej Matisak, deputy head of the foreign desk at Slovak daily Pravda, said he believes “Fico won’t go to extremes on the EU level, as his focus is domestic, but I also believe that the EU should be ready for a more combative Fico.”
For more reading:
Slovakia’s new prime minister Robert Fico to attend EU summit
‘A technician of power’: Robert Fico, Slovakia’s veteran populist
Updated
Robert Fico has been appointed Slovakia’s prime minister for the fourth time and will attend an EU summit in Brussels this week, where the nation-first populist’s fellow leaders should get an early indication of how obstructive he intends to be.
President Zuzana Čaputová on Wednesday formally approved the new three-party coalition government led by Fico, whose party won elections last month on pledges to end military aid to Ukraine and slash immigration.
Analysts expect the country to move closer to the unashamedly nationalist policies of Hungary, whose illiberal leader, Viktor Orbán, Fico has said he admires – although many question how far he will follow through on his campaign rhetoric.
Fico’s Smer party finished first in last month’s ballot, with 23% of the vote, and formed a coalition with Hlas, a breakaway party led by the prime minister’s former deputy, Peter Pellegrini, and the ultra-nationalist Slovak National party (SNS).
The decision to govern with SNS led to Smer and Hlas being suspended from the socialist group in the European parliament, while Čaputová last week rejected the coalition’s first choice for environment minister, a climate sceptic.
Read the full story here.
And also check out this profile of Fico – a “burly and brash” veteran politician and “technician of power” – by the Guardian’s Jason Burke.
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