Orbán or EU: Slovakia at a crossroads

Prime Minister Robert Fico’s coalition partner Peter Pellegrini emerged victorious in the closely contested Slovakian presidential elections, signalling continued unity with the government but raising concerns in Bratislava, Brussels and Berlin about the future of Slovak democracy within the EU.

Despite the polls predicting a dead heat, the Ukraine-sceptic Pellegrini won by a 6% margin, taking 53% of the vote to 47% for the pro-EU diplomat Ivan Korčok. Voter turnout was the second highest in history, at 61%.

After his victory was sealed, Pellegrini, a former member of Fico’s SMER-SD party who founded his own ‘Hlas-SD’ party in 2020, assured that he would not form an opposition to the current Fico government.

“The government does not need to fear that the presidential palace will become an opportunistic centre for the opposition, as it has been for the past 10 years,” the future president said, referring to the current president, Zuzana Čaputová.

“The people of Slovakia have shown today that they recognise what is threatening this country from the side of the liberal media, activists, NGOs and progressives,” said Fico as a harbinger of the changes to come for Slovakia.

Concerns in Berlin

The results of Slovakia’s presidential election caused concern in Berlin, Brussels and the now dispirited opposition in Bratislava.

In Germany, Norbert Röttgen, the leading foreign policy expert for the CDU, the main opposition party, suggested that if Slovakia follows in the footsteps of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, it will have to decide whether to take that path or remain in the EU.

“Slovakia must then decide whether it wants to follow Orbán or remain in the EU”, he said on Sunday as tens of thousands protested in central Budapest on Saturday against the government of Viktor Orbán.

He said, referring to Pellegrini’s pro-Russian rhetoric, “Anyone who sides with the aggressor here does not belong in the EU.”

Anton Hofreiter, chair of the Bundestag’s European Affairs Committee and a member of the Greens, currently in the German coalition, raised the issue of cutting off EU funds to Slovakia.

“It is important that the Slovakian government receives a clear warning signal from Berlin and Brussels,” Hofreiter told Funke Mediengruppe.

If Fico and Pellegrini “take an axe to the Slovakian rule of law and open the floodgates to corruption, no more money should flow from EU funds”, he added.

Strengthening extremist forces in Europe

Ahead of the elections, analysts and the opposition warned that a victory of Pellegrini puts a liberal democracy in Slovakia at risk, as he will not oppose Fico’s government, which recently pushed for several laws criticised by the EU and led to mass protests.

“If Pellegrini is elected, nobody would any longer stand in the way of the Slovak prime minister, whose great role model is Viktor Orbán”, Slovak opposition MEP Vladimir Bilčík (EPP) told Euractiv Slovakia last week.

“Pellegrini’s victory would also strengthen extremist forces in Europe. With the pro-Russian rhetoric he escalated in the presidential campaign, he has endeared himself to them. If he wins, it will also be thanks to their votes,” he added.

To win, Pellegrini’s campaign falsely portrayed his rival, pro-EU diplomat Ivan Korčok, as a “warmonger” who, as president, would send Slovak men to fight in Ukraine.

Korčok has repeatedly denied the accusations, pointing out that the Slovak president does not even have that power. In reality, such a decision would be up to parliament and the government of which Pellegrini is currently a member.

The role of the president in Slovakia is mainly ceremonial. However, as the recent case of the pro-EU president Zuzana Čaputová has shown, the head of state can effectively slow down or oppose the government’s will on certain issues.

For example, the controversial criminal code reform, which would significantly reduce sentences, has not yet come into force only because of Čaputová. In February, the president challenged the reform by referring it to the Constitutional Court and asking for it to be suspended until a verdict is reached.

Pellegrini criticised her stance back then, as he voted for the reform himself.

Dismay on the other side

Korčok congratulated Pellegrini but criticised his opponent’s campaign:

“It turns out that it is possible to become the president of the Slovak Republic by spreading hatred. The campaign can also be won by making me a war candidate,” Korčok pointed out.

“I want to express my belief that Peter Pellegrini will be independent and will act according to his convictions and without orders,” he added.

The leader of the leading opposition party, Progressive Slovakia (PS), Michal Šimečka, said he was sorry that the election had gone the way it had: “I’m very sorry that it didn’t work, it was so close. Ivan Korčok would be an excellent president,” Šimečka said, admitting his party is thinking about starting closer political cooperation with Korčok. “We will talk about it when the time is right.”

“We feel that a significant part of Slovakia and the majority of young people are disappointed with the outcome of the presidential election,” said the conservative opposition party KDH, which also supported Korčok.

(Natália Silenská | Euractiv.sk, Nick Alipour | Euractiv.de, Charles Szumski)

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