Slovakia is potentially sliding towards an Orban-like model, and Berlin intends to put the rule of law on the table at Wednesday’s meeting between Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the deputy head of the German-Slovak parliamentary group in the Bundestag Jorg Nurnberger said in an interview with Euractiv.
Scholz will host Fico on Wednesday evening, where the two leaders will discuss “bilateral and European issues”.
Although the two leaders share ideological similarities, relations between Berlin and Bratislava are not at their best, particularly as Scholz’s SPD was among those most in favour of suspending Fico’s Slovak Socialist Party, Smer, from the Party of European Socialists (PES).
Indeed, the PES suspended Smer following mounting criticism of the prime minister’s pro-Russian views, his cosy relationship with the far-right and his marked departure from socialist values.
“We expect Slovakia to play a positive role at EU level,” Nurnberger told Euractiv, adding that it was important to show what the framework of German policy looks like, namely when it comes to the rule of law.
“With any kind of populism, it is important to show a clear edge,” he said, adding that Germany must “make it clear to them where we see the boundaries that must not be crossed”.
In his view, it must be made clear that the rule of law issue must be more strongly integrated into decisions at the European level to “keep up the pressure”.
“Because you can’t have authoritarian rule and be funded by the EU at the same time,” he said.
According to Nürnberger, Fico is an opportunistic pragmatist who is always looking for his advantage, but without the support of its European neighbours and the European Union, Slovakia’s policies “cannot be successful”.
The Orbán temptation
Nürnberger said there is a “real danger” that Fico will follow in the footsteps of Hungary’s prime minister and go down the authoritarian rabbit hole.
“Slovakia’s political system is naturally very fragile. Society is deeply divided. That is why there is certainly potential for development in the direction that Mr Orbán has been taking in Hungary for years,” he says.
But he argues that whether and how far Fico will move in this direction is impossible to predict at the moment, as Orbán and Fico do not always see eye to eye due to their different national interests.
“There are definitely different interests here, especially because of the Hungarian minority in Slovakia and the attempt by Hungary to influence Slovakian domestic politics,” Nürnberger said.
EU states not sharing intelligence with ‘isolated’ Fico
Since Fico returned to power in October 2023, Slovakia has become increasingly isolated.
On Monday, the Investigative Jan Kuciak (ICKJ) Centre and VSquare revealed that several EU and NATO countries have stopped sharing intelligence with Bratislava since Fico took office.
Slovakia also failed to join the 48 countries that condemned the alleged transfer of ballistic missiles between North Korea and Russia to attack Ukraine. Among EU member states, only Slovakia and Hungary failed to sign the joint statement.
In addition, Fico’s coalition’s plans to reform the criminal justice system have been widely criticised by the European Commission, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office and the European Parliament. In Slovakia, thousands of people take part in weekly protests against it.
The Ukrainian stumbling block
Before arriving in Berlin on Wednesday evening, Fico is to meet his Ukrainian counterpart Denys Šmyhaľ in Uzhhorod, near the Slovak-Ukrainian border, for the first time since the war in Ukraine began in 2022. The planned visit comes after a backlash against Fico’s harsh words on Ukraine.
In recent days, Fico did indeed say that Ukraine is “not a sovereign nation” and insisted that “it needs to give up some of its territory to Russia” if the war is to stop, and said he would veto Kyiv’s NATO membership bid. One Ukrainian MP even called for his visit to be cancelled.
German lawmaker Nürnberger, however, praised Slovakia’s efforts, as Bratislava had already transferred much of its military potential to Ukraine under the previous government.
Nevertheless, he hopes that Fico will do Slovakia a favour and join the alliance of states trying to ramp up their arms industries, as this could also bring economic benefits for Slovakia.
“And perhaps Slovakia should also remember what it was like in 1968 when Soviet tanks suddenly appeared in Bratislava and Kosice,” Nürnberger added.
(Charles Szumski | Euractiv.com, Natalia Silenska | Euractiv.sk)
Oliver Noyan contributed to the reporting of this article.
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Source: euractiv.com
