Fico’s first post-assassination speech: Blames opposition, ‘Soros media’

5 months ago 19

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who was shot several times in an assassination attempt on 15 May, unexpectedly posted a video on Facebook in which he said he did not believe the attack on him had been carried out by a “lone madman”, blamed the media and the opposition, and announced that he would be able to return to work in early July.

Fico published a 14-minute video on Wednesday evening, the last day before the moratorium on EU elections in Slovakia.

“On 15 May, an activist of the Slovak opposition tried to assassinate me in Handlová because of my political views,” Fico claimed in the video.

He admitted that the attack had caused him “serious damage to my health, repeated surgeries, a lot of pain and suffering” and that “it will be a small miracle” if he is able to return to work in a few weeks’ time.

However, he also said that if everything “goes optimally”, he could “gradually return to work at the turn of June and July”.

Fico also forgave his shooter and blamed the opposition for the attack.

“I forgive him and let him sort out what he did and why he did it in his own head. In the end, it is evident that he was only a messenger of evil and political hatred, which the politically unsuccessful and frustrated opposition developed in Slovakia to unmanageable proportions,” he said.

He also warned that it was to be expected that “anti-government media, foreign-funded political NGOs and the opposition” would begin to downplay his assassination attempt, saying it was “only an attack by a deranged person”.

“I want to ask the anti-government media, especially those that are co-owned by the financial structure of George Soros, not to go down this road (…). I have no reason to believe this was an attack by a lone madman,” he said, recalling that he had warned of the possibility of an attack on a member of his government in April.

He also touched on the war in Ukraine, the presidential and parliamentary elections in Slovakia, the murder of investigative journalist Ján Kuciak in 2018, and the deterioration of bilateral relations with the Czech Republic, and the EU, which he criticised for “ignoring warnings about the persecution of Smer”.

He ended the video thanking people for their support and issued another warning to the opposition.

“If it continues as it is now, the horror of 15 May, which you all had the opportunity to see practically live, will continue, and there will be more victims. I do not doubt it, not for a second,” he said.

A disappointed opposition

Despite Fico’s statements to the contrary, Slovak mainstream media publicly condemned the attack on him and violence in general. Following his first appearance since the attack, members of the Slovak opposition reacted quickly.

“I am glad that Robert Fico is feeling better. Unfortunately, nothing has changed in his politics,” said Michal Šimečka, the chairman of the leading opposition party Progressive Slovakia (PS).

“For 14 minutes, the prime minister blamed the media, the opposition, artists, the EU and our foreign partners,” he continued, describing the video’s content as “a political disappointment”.

“Instead of actively contributing to social reconciliation, he called the assassin an ‘activist of the political opposition’ and repeated conspiracies about a global Soros conspiracy against Slovakia. I am truly sorry,” Šimečka added.

According to the SaS party, Robert Fico’s reaction to the shooting directly contradicts calls to calm society.

“I strongly oppose any association of the assassin and his act against the prime minister with our policy based on factual and professional criticism,” said party leader Branislav Gröhling.

Gröhling said that Fico had the opportunity to overcome his shadow and his past, but instead of an attempt at social reconciliation, Slovaks had witnessed the exact opposite.

“Not only will this not help our society. On the contrary, it will make it even more divided and hateful,” Gröhling concluded.

(Natália Silenská | Euractiv.sk)