Slovak Lesson in Populism in the Times of Hybrid Warfare

Fico's usual pragmatism in foreign policy prevails over rhetoric

21 December 2023

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico again demonstrates the ability to combine anti-Western rhetoric for domestic consumption with accommodating EU partners on key issues such as Ukraine, as he pursues to position Slovakia to benefit from any geopolitical scenarios.

Two months after the Slovak elections held at the end of September, the new Slovak Foreign Minister Juraj Blanár sat down for an interview with the editor of a pro-Kremlin portal to convince him that Slovak foreign policy is completely consistent in its actions with what the Prime Minister Robert Fico’s Smer party said in the campaign.

However, a different assurance was given in another forum. The head of the Slovak parliament, Peter Pellegrini, asked the Czech host during his visit to wait for action in real politics and not rely on “some image that is being created about Slovakia”.

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Zuzana Kepplova

Columnist, writer and an editor of the opinion section at the leading Slovak newspaper, SME.

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