Who is Robert Fico, the parable of the Slovak Orban: from pro-European to pro-Russian

The last elections had given a third political life, a rebirth to the prime minister which has turned his political history upside down

ROME – He is nicknamed “the Slovak Orban”, a definition which in itself would be sufficient to trace the political profile of Robert Fico, the head of the Government of Bratislava who is in very serious conditions, after being the victim of an ambush north-east of the capital. The man to whom the national elections of 30 September 2023 had given back a third political life (he had already been prime minister from 2006 to 2010 and from 2012 to 2018), a rebirth after the dramatic end of his second experience at the helm of the country. The corruption investigations, the demonstrations in the streets following the dramatic death of the investigative journalist Ján Kuciak, killed at home together with his girlfriendMartina Kusnirov >a, they forced him to resign. The reporter had denounced the closeness to the ‘Ndrangheta of some politicians in Fico’s magic circle. It was 2018.

THE PARADIGM CHANGE

The party that he himself had founded in 1999, Smer, a moderate left-wing alternative to communism, with a progressive and pro-European imprint, was overturned. Starting from scratch, with a new identity, Robert Fico won the last elections by presenting himself to citizens with a xenophobic, populist, pro-Russian, ultra-nationalist imprint. He has openly declared himself against sending weapons to Ukraine and against Kiev’s entry into NATO.