Slovakia’s Deputy PM and Defence Minister Robert Kalinak (left) and Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok (right) deliver joint press statements at the government headquarters in Bratislava, Slovakia, on May 16, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

The Slovak Interior Minister said on May 16 that a “lone wolf” has been charged in the shooting that seriously wounded Prime Minister Robert Fico and prompted soul-searching among leaders in the deeply divided society.

Mr. Fico was in serious but stable condition on May 16, a hospital official said, after the populist leader was hit multiple times in an attempt on his life that shook the small country and reverberated across the continent weeks before European elections.

The attempted assassination has shocked the small central European nation, with many blaming the attack in part on extreme political polarization that has divided the country.

Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok said on May 15 that an initial investigation found “a clear political motivation” behind the attack on Mr. Fico while he was attending a government meeting in a former coal mining town. However, he said on May 16 that the suspect charged was a lone wolf who “did not belong to any political groups.”

The Minister did not specify what the motivation was. Mr. Fico has long been a divisive figure in Slovakia and beyond, and his return to power last year on a pro-Russian, anti-American message led to even greater worries among fellow European Union members that he would abandon his country’s pro-Western course.

The attempt on Mr. Fico’s life came at a time of high division in Slovakia, as thousands of demonstrators have repeatedly rallied in the capital and around the country to protest his policies. It also comes just ahead of June elections for the European Parliament.

Slovakia’s outgoing and next Presidents — political rivals — appeared together in an appeal for Slovaks to overcome their increasingly tense political differences for the good of the country.

Outgoing President Zuzana Caputova, an opponent of Mr. Fico, said on May 16 that the heads of the country’s political parties would meet in an effort to bring calm, saying the attack was a reflection of an increasingly polarized society.

“Let us step out of the vicious circle of hatred and mutual accusations,” Ms. Caputova said at a news conference in the capital Bratislava. “What happened yesterday was an individual act. But the tense atmosphere of hatred was our collective work.”

President-Elect Peter Pellegrini called on political parties to suspend or scale back their campaigns for European elections, which will be held June 6-9, to prevent “stand-offs and mutual accusations between politicians.”

“If there is anything that the people of Slovakia urgently need today, it is at least basic agreement and unity among the Slovak political representation. And if not consensus, then please, at least civilized ways of discussing among each other,” Mr. Pelligrini said.

Mr. Fico’s government, elected last September, has caused controversy by halting arms deliveries to Ukraine, and has plans to amend the penal code to eliminate a special anti-graft prosecutor and to take control of public media. His critics worry that he will lead Slovakia — a nation of 5.4 million that belongs to NATO — down a more autocratic path.

Zuzana Eliasova, a resident of the capital Bratislava, said the attack on Mr. Fico was a “shock” to the nation and an attack on democracy at a time when political tensions were already running high.

“I believe that a lot of people or even the whole society will look into their conscience, because the polarization here has been huge among all different parts of society,” she said.

Doctors performed a five-hour operation on Mr. Fico, who was initially reported to be in life-threatening condition, according to director of the F.D. Roosevelt Hospital in Banska Bystrica, Miriam Lapunikova. He is being treated in an intensive care unit.

Five shots were fired outside a cultural center in the town of Handlova, nearly 140km northeast of the capital, government officials said.

Slovak police have provided no information on the identity of the shooter. But unconfirmed media reports suggested he was a 71-year-old retiree who was known as an amateur poet, and may have previously worked as a security guard at a mall in the country’s southwest.

Slovakia’s Security Council was set to meet in the capital of Bratislava on May 16 to discuss the situation, a government office said, adding that a Cabinet meeting would follow.

Mr. Fico returned to power in Slovakia last year, having previously served twice as Prime Minister. He and his Smer party have most often been described as left-populist, though he has also been compared to politicians on the right like the nationalist Prime Minister of neighbouring Hungary, Viktor Orbán.

Mr. Fico’s comeback caused concern among his critics that he and his party — which had long been tainted by scandal — would lead Slovakia away from the Western mainstream. He promised a tough stance against migration and non-governmental organizations and campaigned against LGBTQ+ rights.

Despite the controversy surrounding Mr. Fico’s leadership, condemnation of the attack came from both his allies and adversaries. On May 15, Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a message to President Caputova, expressing his support and wishing the Prime Minister a fast and full recovery.

“This atrocious crime cannot be justified,” Mr. Putin said in the message released by the Kremlin. “I know Robert Fico as a courageous and strong-willed person. I truly hope these personal qualities will help him overcome this harsh situation.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also denounced the violence against a neighbouring country’s head of government.

“Every effort should be made to ensure that violence does not become the norm in any country, form or sphere,” he said.

Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico. File
| Photo Credit: AFP

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who was said to be in a life-threatening condition after being shot on May 15, took power for the fourth time last October and has turned the country’s foreign policy towards more pro-Russian views.

He has also initiated reforms of criminal law and the media, which have raised concerns over weakening the rule of law.

During a three-decade career, Mr. Fico, 59, has skilfully weaved between pro-European mainstream and nationalistic anti-Brussels and anti-American positions, while showing a willingness to change course depending on public opinion or changed political realities.

He embraced more extreme positions over the past four years that include strident criticisms of western allies, pledges to stop military support for Kyiv, opposition to sanctions on Russia and threats to veto any future NATO membership invite for Ukraine.

His coalition halted Slovak official shipments of weapons for Ukraine and he has spoken about what he called western influence in the war which only led to Slavic nations killing each other.

Mr. Fico has remained steady throughout his career, however, on promises to protect living standards of those left behind in a country where conditions for many are only slowly catching up to western Europe and where many hold relatively fond memories of a communist-era past.

“Fico is a technician of power, by far the best in Slovakia. He does not have a counterpart at the moment,” said sociologist Michal Vasecka, from the Bratislava Policy Institute.

“Fico is always following opinion polls, understands what is happening” in society.

His campaign call of “Not a single round” for Ukraine appealed to voters in the nation of 5.5 million where only a minority in the NATO member country believe Russia is at fault for the Ukraine war.

Mr. Fico, who analysts see inspired by Hungary’s Viktor Orban, has said he has Slovak interests at heart and wants the war to end. Western allies and Ukraine say halting military aid to Kyiv would only help Russia.

“We see Viktor Orban as one of those European politicians who do not fear to openly defend the interests of Hungary and Hungarian people,” Mr. Fico told Reuters in emailed responses last year.

“He puts them in the first place. And that should be the role of an elected politician, to look after the interests of his voters and his country.”

Born to a working-class family, Mr. Fico graduated with a law degree in 1986 and joined the then-ruling Communist party.

After the 1989 fall of Communist rule, he worked as a government lawyer, won a seat in Parliament under the renamed Communist party, and represented Slovakia at the European Court for Human Rights.

Mr. Fico has run SMER-Social Democracy party since 1999 after establishing it to oppose the reformist centre-right cabinet.

He parlayed dissatisfaction with liberal economic reforms into his first election victory in 2006.

But he also kept the nation on course to adopt the euro in 2009 despite forming a government with nationalists.

His second cabinet won after another centre-right coalition broke up two years later, and a tough stance against migrants helped him win re-election in 2016. After that win, he declared he wanted Slovakia as part of the EU’s core with France and Germany.

Mr. Fico’s political fortunes faded in 2018 when journalist Jan Kuciak, who was investigating high-level graft, and his fiancee Martina Kusnirova were killed by a contract killer.

This fuelled mass protests against graft and Fico was forced to resign. SMER lost power in a 2020 election to parties pledging to weed out corruption, and his party split.

Polling under 10%, Mr. Fico once sought to address voter fears during the coronavirus pandemic when he slammed government health measures.

“He became the most prominent political representative of a movement against face masks or vaccination,” said political analyst Grigorij Meseznikov.

At the same time he a tapped into dissatisfaction with bickering in the ruling government and raised doubts with its pro-western course, chiming with pro-Russian narratives on social networks that had spread across Slovakia.

Mr. Fico also swatted away accusations of graft that have dogged his party during his political career. He was charged with criminal conspiracy in 2022 to use police and tax information on political foes — charges he denied and which were later dropped.

A person is detained after the shooting incident of Slovak PM Robert Fico, after a Slovak government meeting in Handlova, Slovakia, on May 15, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Media reports say Slovakia’s populist Prime Minister Robert Fico was injured in a shooting and taken to hospital. The incident took place in the town of Handlova, some 150km northeast of the capital, according to the news television station TA3. A suspect has been detained, it said.

Deputy Speaker of Parliament Lubos Blaha confirmed the incident during a session of Parliament and adjourned it until further notice, the Slovak TASR news agency said.

The incident took place in front of the local House of Culture, where Mr. Fico came to meet with supporters. Police sealed off the scene.

A reporter for the daily newspaper Dennik N daily heard shooting and then saw rescuers carrying the premier to a car.