VILLAGE IDIOT OCTOBER-NOVEMBER

April 2023 79

VILLAGE IDIOT

OCTOBER-NOVEMBER

ROBERT FICO

October/November 2023 79

Robert Fico (59), the populist who is to become Prime Minister of

Slovakia for the fourth time, was a Communist before it became

difﬁ cult, was once an atheist and is now a Catholic; and was the

country’s most prominent voice against masks, lockdowns and

vaccination during the recent pandemic. He likes bodybuilding,

football, philandering and fast cars.

He rejects “a distinct Muslim community in Slovakia” and has

criticised same-sex marriage and described adoption by same-sex

couples as a “perversion”.

Fico is brash and outspoken, he has called journalists “idiots”, “dirty”,

“pricks, “prostitutes”, “snakes” and “hyenas” and has ridiculed some

journalists’ physical appearances.

The President, liberal Zuzana Čaputová, who has just coldly invited

him to form a government, after the general election he said would be

rigged – in which his party obtained 23% of the vote – is suing him for

defamation during the campaign. He called her a whore and a bitch,

accused her of breaking the law and the Constitution, and of being “a

puppet” in the hands of the United States and of Jewish philanthropic

billionaire, George Soros.

Fico did a doctorate on the death penalty and was Slovakia’s

representative to the European court of human rights (ECHR) from

1994 to 2000.

He resigned as Prime Minister in 2018 after large street protests linked

to the killing of investigative journalist, Ján Kuciak and his girlfriend.

Kuciak was killed for investigations he was conducting into the

Calabrian ‘Ndrangheta in Slovakia, and its links to members of the

government.

Most analysts predict Fico will try to form a coalition with the moderate

Hlas – a spin-off from his own social democratic, left-wing nationalist

and left-wing populist ‘Smer’ party formed after his 2018 resignation –

and the nationalist, pro-Russian Slovak National party, with which he

has previously governed.

Over the years, Fico has championed both pro-EU and aggressive

nationalist positions. He has said he will not support further military

aid for Ukraine or its membership of NATO. He admires both Vladimir

Putin, saying he would not permit the Russian president’s arrest under

an international warrant if he came to Slovakia, and Hungary’s illiberal

leader, Viktor Orban.