Slovak far-right’s NATO exit wish dashes hopes of joining governing coalition

The idea a referendum on Slovakia leaving NATO was reiterated by far-right Republika party leader MEP Milan Uhrík on Monday – a call that goes against the redline set by potential coalition partners, including the party of leading anti-Ukraine frontrunner and former prime minister Robert Fico.

Currently polling around 8%, Republika is in the running to have a seat in the ruling coalition, though Uhrík repeating the party’s plans to organise an anti-NATO referendum has likely diminished its chances of joining a coalition with Smer despite its party leader Fico previously saying he had “no gripes” with the far-right party.

“With yesterday’s statement by the leader of Republika, we can definitively declare that we will never go into any electoral coalition with this political party,” Peter Pellegrini, a Smer-defector and now leader of Hlas – the party Smer needs backing from to form a government after the snap election on 30 September.

In June, Fico said that Smer would not enter a coalition agreement which would include Slovakia’s exit from NATO or the EU. But without Republika, polls show Smer would not have enough partners to form a majority government.

Slovakia’s snap election will be key in determining Slovakia’s future approach to foreign policy and the rule of law, mainly as Fico is campaigning to end military aid to neighbouring Ukraine and stop corruption investigations targeting multiple current and former Smer members.

As for uniting with the far-right, in May, Republika’s Uhrík said Hlas and Smer’s pre-election rhetoric was an attempt at assuaging voters and the media, adding “They say they cannot imagine cooperation with us, but that will change after the election.”

In case things do not go Smer’s way, the government could be led by liberal runner-up Progresívne Slovensko, for which forming a coalition would mean bringing together a mismatched grouping of conservative, libertarian, socially democratic and populist parties, united under their support for EU, NATO and the rule of law.

(Barbara Zmušková | EURACTIV.sk)