Slovakia: Hardly any hope for reconciliation after the assassination attempt on Fico

Slovakia
Hardly any hope for reconciliation after the assassination attempt on Fico

The people in Slovakia are living through anxious hours. The day after the assassination attempt on the head of government Doctors continue to fight for Robert Fico’s life. The act is an even bigger shock for the country than the double murder of investigative journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kusnirova in February 2018 and the assassination attempt on the Teplaren bar in Bratislava, known as an LGBTI meeting place, in October 2022. The political background appears this time to be clear more quickly than with the other two attacks. Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok spoke of a clear political motive that emerged from the perpetrator’s initial interrogations.

In a video recording leaked from the police station, which was adopted by all relevant internet portals on Wednesday evening, the attacker, who was arrested immediately after shooting the head of government, clearly justified the shooting at Fico: “I do not agree with the government policy,” he said clearly. In a more unclear voice, he then gave examples – above all the government’s media policy, especially the planned dissolution of the public radio and television RTVS. In contrast, the liberal and conservative opposition parties had been mobilizing thousands of people for mass demonstrations for weeks.

The television station TV Markiza reported that the perpetrator, Juraj C., had allegedly already been noticed during opposition protests against the government’s media and Ukraine policy. Fico himself recently accused the liberal opposition of fomenting a climate of hostility against his government. Given the heated atmosphere, it cannot be ruled out that an act of violence could occur at some point.

Mass protests against the government since December

During the mass protests against the government that had been organized since December by the liberal opposition, which was narrowly defeated in the parliamentary elections in the fall, participants regularly chanted: “Fico in jail!” and “We don’t want Fico!”. All anti-government demonstrations had banners reading “Mafia!” to see. This catchphrase stubbornly reminds us of the accusation, which has long since been legally refuted, that the murder of journalists in 2018 was orchestrated by a conspiracy between Italian mafia clans and government politicians.

Parts of the government camp repeatedly accused the opposition and its allied liberal media of planning a kind of coup attempt against the legitimate government, as Fico and other government politicians repeatedly put it. Another mass rally against the government was also planned in Bratislava on Wednesday evening. The main issue was the controversial plan by Culture Minister Martina Simkovicova to dissolve the public broadcaster RTVS and replace it with a new company.

From the perspective of the opposition, but also the RTVS employees and opposition media, this was intended to create a compliant propaganda organ for the government. Or as RTVS editor Miro Frindt told the dpa: “The coalition is concerned with controlling news broadcasts.” Some kind of court reporting should replace the previous RTVS reporting, which was rated in surveys as independent and trustworthy.

President calls for moderation

Although the liberal opposition leader and head of the largest liberal opposition party “Progressive Slovakia” (PS) still considers this fight to be important and legitimate, he spontaneously canceled the protest rally in Bratislava planned for the evening after the attack. Other opposition parties also agreed not to organize any major political actions for the time being.

President Zuzana Caputova, who is closer to the opposition than to the government and will be in office until June 15, called for moderation together with her already elected successor, the Social Democrat Peter Pellegrini, who is part of the government camp. The Interior and Defense Ministers also appealed from the hospital in Banska Bystrica, where the injured Fico was treated, to “calm down” the polarized social climate. In particular, all parties should refrain from attacks on social media, as these promote a mood of violence, said Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok.

What quickly became apparent, however, were immediate accusations of blame in subordinate clauses. Parliamentary Vice-President Lubos Blaha, one of Fico’s deputies in the largest governing party “Towards – Slovak Social Democracy” (Smer-SSD), immediately added to his warning for moderation the follow-up addressed to opposition media and opposition parties: “This is your work!” Andrej Danko, the head of the smallest, right-wing populist ruling party SNS, accused the opposition of having “blood on their hands.”

There have been no comparable attacks for decades

Conversely, several opposition politicians, such as the conservative MEP Ivan Stefanec, criticized the government itself for being responsible for the climate of hatred that made such an attack possible.

There have not been comparable assassination attempts on heads of government in Europe for decades. In March 2003, reform-minded Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic was shot dead in an assassination attempt in Belgrade, and in September of the same year, Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh died after a knife attack in a Stockholm department store. In October 2021, a 25-year-old stabbed the 69-year-old Conservative MP David Amess during a citizens’ consultation in England.

In June 2019, the murder of CDU politician Walter Lübcke caused horror in Germany: a right-wing extremist shot the Kassel district president on his terrace in Wolfhagen. In contrast, in October 2015, the non-party Henriette Reker barely survived a knife attack by a right-wing extremist shortly before the election as mayor of Cologne.

dpa