Robert Fico (born September 15, 1964) is the current
Prime Minister of Slovakia (since July 4, 2006).
His relatively new left-wing party Direction – Social Democracy (
SlovakThe Slovak language , is an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Slavic languages ....
:
SMER – Sociálna demokracia) was the winner of the
parliamentary elections in 2006The 2006 parliamentary elections in Slovakia took place on Saturday June 17, 2006. The voters selected 150 representatives for the National Council of the Slovak Republic. The highest number of seats, 50, was won by left-wing party Direction - Social Democracy led by Robert Fico. In total, six...
, receiving approximately 30 percent of the cast votes. After the victory he created a coalition with the Slovak National Party an extremist nationalist party led by
Ján SlotaJán Slota is the co-founder and President of the Slovak National Party, an extremist chauvinist party. Slota as the leader of SNS entered into a coalition with Robert Fico's Smer in 2006...
and with the
People's Party - Movement for a Democratic SlovakiaThe People's Party – Movement for a Democratic Slovakia is a political party in Slovakia. Its leader is Vladimír Mečiar.The party was part of the Slovak government:...
led by
Vladimír MečiarVladimír Mečiar is the leader of the People's Party - Movement for a Democratic Slovakia and a former Prime Minister of Slovakia. He led Slovakia to a disengagement from the Czech Republic. He was one of the leading presidential candidates in Slovakia in 1999 and 2004...
.
Life
Fico was born in a working class family on September 15, 1964, in the town of
TopoľčanyTopoľčany is a town in the Nitra Region of Slovakia. The population as of 2006 was 28,685. The town's population is nicked "Žochári" ....
. His father was a forklift operator and his mother worked in a shoe store. Fico has two siblings, a brother Ladislav and a sister Lucia. He is married to a wife Svetlana, they have one son.
Fico acquired his legal education during the communist rule in then- Czechoslovakia. He graduated from the Law Faculty of the Comenius University at
BratislavaBratislava is the capital of the Slovak Republic and, with a population of about 429,000, also the country's largest city. Bratislava is in southwestern Slovakia on both banks of the Danube River...
and later worked for the Institute of State and Law of the
Slovak Academy of SciencesThe Slovak Academy of Sciences SAV is the main scientific and research institution in Slovakia fostering basic and strategic basic research...
, a communist take on a think-tank body. Fico joined the
Communist Party of CzechoslovakiaThe Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, in Czech and in Slovak: Komunistická strana Československa was a Communist and Marxist-Leninist political party in Czechoslovakia that existed between 1921 and 1992....
in 1987.
After the
Velvet RevolutionThe Velvet Revolution or Gentle Revolution was a non-violent revolution in Czechoslovakia that saw the overthrow of the Communist government. It is seen as one of the most important of the Revolutions of 1989.On November 17, 1989, a Friday, riot police suppressed a peaceful student demonstration...
of 1989, following the collapse of the communist regime in Czechoslovakia, Fico joined the
Party of the Democratic LeftThe Party of the Democratic Left was a political party in Slovakia from 1990 to 2004. It was social democratic in orientation.It was founded in 1990, out of the Communist Party of Slovakia. Since the 2002 elections, it has had no place in the Slovak legislature...
(SDL), a successor of the Communist Party of Slovakia. From 1994 to 2000 Fico as a political appointee represented Slovakia as its legal counsel at the
European Court of Human RightsThe European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg is an international judicial body established under the European Convention on Human Rights of 1950 to monitor respect of human rights by states...
. During this time Fico lost all 14 cases he handled .
In 1999 Fico left his SDL party whose support had meanwhile dropped below the threshold required to get into parliament. Subsequently he founded a new party called
Smer (Direction). Although at first presented as a centrist party, the Fico's new party project soon shifted towards a more extreme and populist leftist rhetoric, the part of the political spectrum having been left vacant after the disintegration of Fico's previous SDL party.
Fico soon became one of the most popular opposition politicians in Slovakia. His rhetoric was most often aimed at the ongoing reforms being carried out at the time by the right wing government of
Mikuláš DzurindaMikuláš Dzurinda is a Slovakian politician. He served two terms as the Prime Minister of Slovakia from October 30, 1998 to July 4, 2006. He was a founder and leader of the Slovak Democratic Coalition and the Slovak Democratic and Christian Union...
. Although praised by international politicians, institutions and economists alike, Dzurinda’s reforms’ short-term negative impacts increased the appeal and popularity of Fico's populist rhetoric, particularly among the countryside population, elderly, lower social classes, and voters with a lower level of education, which to this day make up the majority of his electorate.
In the parliamentary elections of 2002, Fico's SMER received 13.46% of the votes and became the third largest party. The result was much lower than the pre-election estimates and Fico openly called it a failure. In the following four years Fico continued with his sharp anti-reform and populist rhetoric, gradually increasing his party's numbers in opinion polls.
Election victory – controversial coalition
In the following elections in 2006 SMER won with 29.1% of the votes and formed a coalition government with
Vladimír MečiarVladimír Mečiar is the leader of the People's Party - Movement for a Democratic Slovakia and a former Prime Minister of Slovakia. He led Slovakia to a disengagement from the Czech Republic. He was one of the leading presidential candidates in Slovakia in 1999 and 2004...
's HZDS and
Ján SlotaJán Slota is the co-founder and President of the Slovak National Party, an extremist chauvinist party. Slota as the leader of SNS entered into a coalition with Robert Fico's Smer in 2006...
's SNS.
In addition to Mečiar's and Slota's controversial political past, Slota and his nationalist and anti-Hungarian SNS party presented a problem of its own, especially in light of Fico's SMER party's attempt to present itself as a modern, socialist and pro-European party. Ján Slota has been known for his frequent vulgar, defamatory and hatred-inciting anti-gypsy and anti-Hungarian remarks, including a drunken public speech in which he called for Slovaks to "get in tanks and level
BudapestBudapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it serves as the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation center and is considered an important hub in Central Europe. In 2009, Budapest had 1,712,210 inhabitants, down from a mid-1980s...
to the ground".
As a result of Fico's decision to form government with Slota’s extremist SNS, the EU-wide
Party of European SocialistsThe Party of European Socialists is a European political party comprising thirty-two socialist, social democratic and labour parties from each European Union member state and Norway...
suspended Fico's party application to join them. In late February 2008 however the Assembly of
PESPES can refer to:*Packetized Elementary Stream, part of the MPEG communication protocol*Party of European Socialists*Payment for Ecosystem Services*PES, the film director and animator*Peoples Education Society, the educational organization...
partially reversed this decision, conditionally reinstating the application after both SMER and
SNSSNS may refer to:* Sacral neuro stimulation* Salinas Municipal Airport, in Monterey County, California, USA* Salomon Nordic System, one of the group of binding systems used in modern cross-country skiing...
sent the
PESPES can refer to:*Packetized Elementary Stream, part of the MPEG communication protocol*Party of European Socialists*Payment for Ecosystem Services*PES, the film director and animator*Peoples Education Society, the educational organization...
a signed letter, committing themselves to respect minority rights. Slota’s numerous nationalist and hate inciting remarks made since have gone largely ignored by the
PESPES can refer to:*Packetized Elementary Stream, part of the MPEG communication protocol*Party of European Socialists*Payment for Ecosystem Services*PES, the film director and animator*Peoples Education Society, the educational organization...
and have not effected SMER’s application.
Fico himself has never publicly criticized or condemned Slota's remarks and speeches and as an obvious result of Ján Slota's conduct the government-level relations between Slovakia and the neighbouring Hungary deteriorated to an unprecedented level. Several meetings between two countries' prime ministers were abruptly canceled and those few that did take place resulted in little progress or improvement of relations.
Domestic policy
A large part of Fico’s election victory was largely attributed to his loud criticism of the previous right-wing government’s economic, tax, social, pension and legislative reforms. The reforms were generally perceived as very positive and successful by such international bodies as IMF, the
World BankThe World Bank is an international financial institution that provides leveraged loans to poorer countries for capital programs, tied to neoliberal market restructurings...
or the OECD , however they negatively affected certain segments of the population, particularly low wage earners, the unemployed, and welfare and other social assistance recipients.
While in opposition, and primarily during the election campaign, Fico vowed to reverse and cancel the majority of the reforms, however upon taking the office he adopted a substantially more cautious approach. Fico inherited the economy in an excellent condition which was generally attributed to the said reforms. The country was achieving a record-high GDP growth and it was starting to fulfill the Maastricht criteria required for the Euro currency adoption, for which the country was aspiring at the time (Slovakia eventually adopted the euro currency on January 1 2009 as first of the former Soviet-block countries).
As a result, contrary to his numerous pre-election promises and declarations, Fico implemented only a few changes that were deemed mainly cosmetic and did not substantially change any of the reforms. According to analysts, the likely reason for Fico's turnaround from his election promises was the realization of the catastrophic consequences the cancellation of the reforms would have on the economy
In retrospect Slovakia seems to now have a balance between the free market and some social protection.
The most successful reform Fico did introduce was in establishing some reasonable standards in how many times employees may be kept on as temporary workers instead of being given permanent contracts. Under the one-sided, pro-employer legislation of the
Mikulas DzurindaMikuláš Dzurinda is a Slovakian politician. He served two terms as the Prime Minister of Slovakia from October 30, 1998 to July 4, 2006. He was a founder and leader of the Slovak Democratic Coalition and the Slovak Democratic and Christian Union...
government an employer could (and many did) keep new staff as temps and create a two-tier workforce. Generally Slovak labour regulation is in tune with most other EU states.
One of few modifications Fico's government did implement was a slight modification to the unconventional and economist-praised
flat taxA flat tax is a tax system with a constant tax rate. Usually the term flat tax would refer to household income being taxed at one marginal rate, in contrast with progressive taxes that may vary according to such parameters as income or usage levels...
system introduced by the previous government in a way that slightly decreased or eradicated a tax-free part of income for higher income earners. Presented as a millionaire tax to Fico's electorate, the tax change essentially impacted everyone earning over €1200 a month, yet had minimal or no impact on those earning over €3000 a month. A lower
VATValue added tax , or goods and services tax is a consumption tax levied on any value that is added to a product...
was imposed on medications and books, though in spite of his election promises Fico failed to extend this onto a wider group of products such as groceries. The Economic crisis of 2008-9 seems to have stopped efforts for more progressivity in the tax system.
Among the more radical measures were controversial legislative changes which effectively banned private health insurance companies from generating profit. As a result Slovakia is being sued by several foreign shareholders of local health insurers through international arbitrations.
In health care, Fico abolished fees that people had to pay when visiting a doctor or a hospital, introduced by the previous government, however no further much-needed reforms have been carried out in the health care system since, resulting in a record high system debts and numerous hospital closures.
In 2007, Fico unsuccessfully tried to regulate retail food prices, an unprecedented effort in a generally free market European union His legislative measures however failed due to various loopholes that were essentially impossible to close without violating fundamental free market principles.
In August 2008, Fico threatened the foreign shareholders of a local gas distributor SPP, the French Gaz de France and the German E.ON, with nationalization and seizure of their ownership shares in a dispute over retail gas price.
Fico is an active proponent of nuclear energy.
Foreign policy
In foreign policy, Fico and his government have faced substantial difficulties in achieving political acceptance abroad, mainly due to his coalition with the controversial and internationally isolated parties of
Vladimír MečiarVladimír Mečiar is the leader of the People's Party - Movement for a Democratic Slovakia and a former Prime Minister of Slovakia. He led Slovakia to a disengagement from the Czech Republic. He was one of the leading presidential candidates in Slovakia in 1999 and 2004...
and
Jan SlotaJán Slota is the co-founder and President of the Slovak National Party, an extremist chauvinist party. Slota as the leader of SNS entered into a coalition with Robert Fico's Smer in 2006...
.
Fico himself created several controversies, for example having attended a reception organized by the Cuban Embassy in Bratislava commemorating an anniversary of Castro's revolution, or announcing that one of his first foreign trips would include Libya, China or Venezuela .
Compensating his lack of close political allies within the EU (head of the Czech social democrats Jiri Paroubek being a notable exception), Fico has been actively strengthening relations with several non-EU countries such as Serbia or Russia.
Fico is an opponent of the planned construction of new US
ABMAn anti-ballistic missile is a missile designed to counter ballistic missiles .A ballistic missile is used to deliver nuclear, chemical, biological or conventional warheads in a ballistic flight trajectory. The term "anti-ballistic missile" describes any antimissile system designed to counter...
and
radarRadar is an object detection system that uses electromagnetic waves to identify the range, altitude, direction, or speed of both moving and fixed objects such as aircraft, ships, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The term RADAR was coined in 1941 as an acronym for RAdio Detection And...
systems in military bases in the neighbouring
Czech RepublicThe Czech Republic is a country in Central Europe that is sometimes considered to be Eastern European. The country borders Poland to the northeast, Germany to the west and northwest, Austria to the south and Slovakia to the east. The capital and largest city is Prague...
and
PolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe . Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
(also criticized by
RussiaRussia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
) and one of the first steps upon taking the office was a military pullout from Iraq.
Robert Fico has strongly opposed unilateral declaration of independence of
KosovoKosovo is a disputed territory in the Balkans. Its majority is governed by the partially-recognised Republic of Kosovo , a self-declared independent state which has de facto control over the territory; the exceptions are some Serb enclaves...
, as a result of which Slovakia has not recognized Kosovo as a sovereign country.
Fico’s Communist Past
One of Fico’s famous remarks is his comment on his perception of the 1989 Velvet Revolution, which peacefully brought down the communist regime in
CzechoslovakiaCzechoslovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
and helped bring down the Soviet rule in all of Eastern Europe. He has been quoted saying as “not having noticed it (the revolution) due to being busy at work” (at the communist ministry of justice) and he has referred to the Velvet Revolution as “an ordinary coup that did not influence his life in any visible way."
Fico has often defended the communist regime as being more social than the capitalist one. Fico has remained unapologetic about his membership in the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia prior to the regime's collapse.
Fico and the Media
Fico is known for his hostile and often bumpy relationship with the media. During his press conferences he often verbally attacks, lectures and taunts the present journalists, often accusing them of bias and attacks on his government. On several occasions he has openly and on record used profanities against specific journalists (“idiots”, “pricks”)
Fico often sues media for libel. Although most of his lawsuits are aimed at tabloids, he has also sued broadsheet dailies (SME, Pravda) as well as an economic weekly Trend. He has won several of the lawsuits, while others have been dismissed. As of March 2009 Fico has more than 10 pending libel lawsuits with a tabloid weekly Plus 7 Days alone. Some of Fico's lawsuits are based solely on a headline, or a satiric cartoon. Several of the court judgments have raised serious concerns about the freedom of press in Slovakia, especially in the cases when besides an apology Fico had also been awarded substantial financial compensatory damages.
Since taking up the office as a prime minister, Fico has granted only one press media interview, to tabloid daily Novy Cas. Although a frequent participant in televised political debates prior to the elections, since then he has only attended televised shows with no political opponents present.
In his ongoing feud with the media, Fico has often been quoted as suggesting that the government should own and operative its own media outlets to assure "objective" information about the government.
Fico often tries to dictate the media what they should cover, and subsequently taunts them when they don't. Fico has on several occasions issued a bizarre and unusual apologies to several foreign politicians, whose visit of Slovakia Fico felt were largely ignored by the media. One such example was the visit of the Russian prime minister Zubkov in April 2008. Most media did not consider the visit of the virtually unknown Zubkov substantially newsworthy hence only minimal coverage was done. To make matters worse, during the press conference the journalists were not allowed to ask any questions. Subsequently Fico sent Zubkov a letter of apology where he apologized for the Slovak media's lack of interest in his visit.
External links