Slovak parties urge end to hatred as government pushes ahead with polarising reforms

4 months ago 18

The parties in Slovakia’s parliament have unanimously adopted a coalition resolution condemning the recent assassination attempt on Prime Minister Robert Fico and urging people not to spread hatred, while the government has reaffirmed its commitment to reforms that have sparked mass protests.

According to the resolution adopted by all 130 MPs present in parliament on Tuesday, the shooting of Fico, who remains in hospital in Banská Bystrica but is no longer in a life-threatening condition, “deserves the strongest condemnation”.

“People must not become targets of hatred due to their political opinions because pluralism, diversity and respect for other opinions are the basis of any free and democratic society,” the unanimously adopted document states.

The resolution also called on all political parties, state officials, public figures, the media and NGOs “to respect the results” of the parliamentary elections and “not to spread hatred against the legitimately elected government”.

According to the document, these entities “should contribute to social reconciliation, stability and peace in Slovakia and put an end to hateful rhetoric”.

The document also states that the role of journalists is crucial in society, “but their work must be based on facts and not on spreading hatred”.

The leader of the main opposition party, Progressive Slovakia (PS), Michal Šimečka, said the resolution was the first small step towards a “civil, fair and pragmatic atmosphere”.

However, he also reassured that it does not change the fact that democracy “needs a strong opposition, free, independent and critical media and solid civil society”.

Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Robert Kaliňák (Smer) and the leader of the ruling SNS party, Andrej Danko, welcomed the adoption of a resolution, with the latter saying that the assassination attempt had “exposed the callousness and loss of all judgment” in society.

Danko also mentioned that they “will come up with a very tough law on the right to protection of a person against the media”.

He went on to say that their intention was not to “gag journalists” but to find a mechanism to “act against lies in the media”.

Dividing reforms not put on hold

Following the attack on Fico, some government politicians blamed the media and opposition parties for being indirectly responsible for the shooting.

The assassination attempt followed months of mass protests against the government’s pro-Russian policies and some of its reforms, such as the abolition of the Special Prosecutor’s Office and the reform of the national public broadcaster RTVS, both of which have also been criticised by the European Commission.

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

While calling for calm, the government reaffirmed its commitment to pursuing its policies. After the coalition council meeting on Monday, the government said it must continue to fulfil its manifesto at the pace set by the prime minister.

“It is one of Robert Fico’s wishes that we cannot stop,” Kaliňák said after the coalition council.

After the resolution was passed in parliament on Tuesday, the government adopted a much-criticised amendment to the ‘Arts Promotion Fund Act’.

Under the amendment, nominees of the Ministry of Culture, rather than experts, will decide how to allocate millions of euros a year to cultural centres, folklore ensembles, libraries, galleries and publishers.

(Natália Silenská | Euractiv.sk)