Anti-Ukrainian politician Fico leads government coalition in Slovakia
Former Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico and leader of the Smer-SD party, who promises to stop military support for Ukraine, signed a memorandum of understanding on Wednesday to form a coalition with the Voice party and the pro-Russian Slovak National Party (SNP).
This was reported by Censor.NET with reference to European Pravda.
The memorandum, signed on Wednesday, provides for the creation of a coalition with the participation of the election winner Smer-SD, which has 42 seats, the party with the "golden share" in the parliament, Golos, which came third in the elections and will have 27 seats, and the SNP with 10 seats in the new parliament.
As part of the coalition agreement, Smer-SD will have the right to appoint the prime minister and six other ministers, paving the way for the anti-Ukrainian Fico to lead the Slovak government for the fourth time.
"The Voice will get the post of speaker of parliament, most likely to be the party's leader Peter Pellegrini, and seven ministerial positions in the government, while the Slovak National Party will get three ministerial positions.
The deal means that the liberal Progressive Slovakia party, which came second in the election with 18% of the vote, will end up in opposition.
Fico campaigned on pro-Russian and anti-American slogans. He promised to end Slovakia's military support for Ukraine. He said he wanted Slovakia to remain a member of the EU and NATO, but with "full respect" for his country's sovereignty.
"The parties ... guarantee the foreign policy orientation of the Slovak Republic based on Slovakia's membership in the European Union, NATO and other significant international organisations, with full respect for sovereignty and national interests," the memorandum signed on Wednesday reads.
