Fico’s Smer will not join new Patriots for Europe group, cites ideological divide

Smer-SD (NI) will not join Viktor Orban’s new Patriots for Europe group, said party leader and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, citing a lack of alignment with left-wing or social-democratic principles while criticising the European Socialists for rejecting Smer’s re-entry.

On Thursday, Fico posted a Facebook video in which he addressed Smer’s efforts to rejoin the Party of European Socialists (PES) while discreetly leaving aside the option of joining the new grouping of his allies, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and former Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš.

“The European socialists probably think that we will sell our soul. And that we will give up our sovereign positions on Ukraine, the right to veto, migration or ethical issues in exchange for membership in their party and faction,” Fico said in the video.

PES suspended Smer and Hlas MEPs in December 2023, following mounting criticism of their pro-Russian views, cosying up to the far right and Smer’s marked departure from socialist values.

“If we are expected to go somewhere and simply parrot the wishes of others, even if it starkly contradicts Slovak national interests, then let me say in advance: Thank you, but our MEPs would prefer to remain non-inscrits,” Fico added.

On Wednesday, Smer MEP Monika Beňová proposed ending negotiations with the EU Socialists and announced that she would present her colleagues with a “different plan” that would be “fair and authentic” for Smer.

This raised expectations that Smer would join the Patriots for Europe. However, according to Fico’s video message, this is not the case.

“Smer, as an authentic Slovak social democracy, cannot join European political structures that have nothing at all to do with the left and social democracy,” he noted without explicitly naming the faction.

Another shooting

Fico, who has just returned to office after partially recovering from an attempted assassination on his life in May, has also stated that he expects “another shooting” to occur in Slovakia, arguing that the opposition is “spreading hatred” again.

Opposition parties and the mainstream media publicly condemned the attack on Fico and violence in general.

Fico also claimed that his shooter, 71-year-old Juraj C., was “an opposition activist” and that there were “dozens of proofs” of this.

In truth, there is no such evidence. On the contrary, the shooter’s values were very ambiguous, as he was also a member of a Slovak pro-Russian paramilitary group ‘Slovenskí branci’.

(Natália Silenská | Euractiv.sk)

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