The World Briefly

May 10, 2023

Opening Doors

Slovakia

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Slovakian Prime Minister Eduard Heger stepped down this week after numerous ministers in his government resigned, a move that may likely deepen the political crisis in the country just months before an election that could see a pro-Russian party win, the Guardian reported.

Heger handed his resignation to President Zuzana Čaputová, who later picked the central bank’s deputy governor, Ľudovít Ódor, to become the leader of a technocrat government.

The resignation comes after a number of ministers resigned in recent weeks, including Agriculture Minister Samuel Vican who stepped down following a scandal involving a more than $1.5 million subsidy to his company, according to Euronews.

Slovakia’s political situation worsened after parliament passed a no-confidence motion against Heger’s four-party coalition in December. The vote came a few months after a party left the coalition in protest at the government’s efforts to ease the cost of living crisis caused by the impact of the Ukraine war.

Slovakia, an EU member and NATO ally, has firmly supported Ukraine since Russia’s invasion last year. Under Heger’s center-right coalition, Slovakia has provided military assistance to Kyiv in the form of weapons.

But polls suggest that the left-wing, populist opposition party, Smer-SD, led by former Prime Minister Robert Fico is on the course to win the Sept. 30 elections.

Fico has opposed military aid to Ukraine and accused “Ukrainian fascists” of starting the conflict there in 2014. He has also criticized “Western propaganda” and vowed to veto “pointless” further sanctions on Russia.

This story originally appeared in the May 10, 2023 newsletter, A Pyrrhic Victory.