Yahoo News 
Slovak Premier's Video Return Heightens Tensions Before EUVote
(Bloomberg) -- In the hometown of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, the sight of locals lingering in the sun-dappled main square last month offered little hint of the political tumult unleashed by the assassination attempt on the nation's leader days before.
Most Read from Bloomberg
Billionaire-Friendly Modi Humbled by Indians Who Make $4 a Day
A Struggling Business Park Deals a Blow to Singapore's Regional Hub Ambitions
‘Everything Is Not Going to Be OK’ in Private Equity, Apollo’s Co-President Says
But in Topolcany, a town of 25,000 in the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains, Fico’s polarizing politics is never far off. A 77-year-old retiree who identified himself only as Jan called Fico “the best we have” — and in his praise began to echo the premier’s talking points, including what he calls the folly of Europe’s support for Ukraine.
“Europe will never be able to unite in support of Ukraine enough to defeat Russia,” the pensioner, who was passing by the ornate Church of the Assumption in the town center, said in an interview. “A nuclear power cannot be defeated.” The European Parliament election, to be held in Slovakia on Saturday, will cast a spotlight on political polarization that’s increasingly gripped the continent, from rowdy protests among farmers from central Brussels to the Polish border with Ukraine to a spate of physical attacks against politicians in Germany.
The political debate has sharpened since the May 15 shooting of Fico at close range as he sought to wade into a group of supporters. Appearing for the first time since the shooting, Fico said Wednesday in a surprise video statement that he was convinced the shooter didn’t act alone and called him “an activist of the opposition” who tried to assassinate him “because of my political views.”
The first such attack on a European leader in more than two decades sent shockwaves through the region and exposed the raw nerves in one of the European Union’s most politically divided countries.
Fico’s Smer party has placed the wounded leader firmly at the center of its campaigning. “For Robert Fico, for Slovakia” is the new slogan at rallies ahead of the European contest. The attempt on Fico’s life has hardened positions in the nation of 5.4 million despite calls to dial back the rhetoric as the 59-year-old premier recovers from four gunshot wounds.
Yet the prime minister’s allies have pounced on Slovakia’s opposition and media as enablers of the shooter, while Fico’s critics warn that his government is exploiting the attack to squelch critical coverage and sideline independent institutions that are a check on his power. Fico warned ominously on Wednesday that ``there will be more victims’’ if the country’s opposition ‘’persists in its current stance.’’The divisions are apparent even in a place like Topolcany. Smer secured 39% of the vote here in the general election last September. The victory propelled the premier back into office six years after he resigned in disgrace amid mass protests following the murder of an investigative journalist and his fiancée.
Maria Ferencova, who says she’s lived in Topolcany her whole life, said Fico’s popularity doesn’t extend to the majority in his hometown.
“When they hold rallies here, it’s not as spontaneous as it is elsewhere, especially in the east,” where Fico’s support is deeper, she said on her way home from work. She quipped that a Fico-promised highway to the city of Nitra more than 32 kilometers (20 miles) to the south never came about.
“He has done very little for the town over the years,” she said.
Polls show a bump for Smer, which had been trailing the pro-European Progressive Slovakia party, since the assault. Fico’s party had 24.4%, a percentage point ahead of the progressives, while Voice, a party in the ruling coalition, had 10%, according to a May 14-21 Ipsos poll.
Once a committed Social Democrat who advocated Slovakia’s integration within the European Union and the single-currency zone, Fico has undergone an ideological shift since 2018, when he was forced from the premiership. He’s built on a steady base among anti-establishment, particularly rural voters, with his attacks on pandemic measures and illegal migration. He’s now closely aligned with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who drafted the template for leaders seeking to erode democratic institutions and consolidate his power.
The Slovak prime minister was reelected last year on a campaign that took aim at military assistance to Ukraine and sanctions against Russia, in addition to pledges for higher social spending. On the campaign trail, Fico made a point of hectoring the outgoing reformist president, Zuzana Caputova, and deriding migration and LGBTQ rights.
The premier has maintained his popularity since returning to the premiership in October, but has also triggered nationwide protests by opponents who have derided his government for steering Slovakia out of the European mainstream. They’ve taken aim at his rewriting of the criminal code, which they say weakens corruption-fighting tools, and seeking to wrest control over public media.
Defense Minister Robert Kalinak, Fico’s top ally who has stewarded the government in the premier’s absence, has been blunt about laying blame for the political violence with journalists and their critical coverage. He denounced as “dangerous” a TV host’s unscripted warning over the “Orbanization” of Slovak media on live television, prompting a suspension from his employer, popular private broadcaster TV Markiza.
“Coalition politicians appear to be exploiting the assassination attempt on the prime minister to wage a battle against the media critical of them,” opposition leader Michal Simecka told reporters.
Pavol Goga, a Smer member for almost 25 years and local party chairman in Topolcany, is quick to say that the opposition and media must change before reconciliation in the country can move forward.
“From our side, there will be no problem adapting to the direction he’ll indicate,’’ Goga said in his sparsely furnished office at a secondary school, where he is the director. Fico said in the video that he hopes to return to work at the end of this month or in July.
Peter Lopatka, a courier for a delivery company, said he never voted for Fico as he condemned the shooting attack — and worried that the murder attempt will do little to calm a toxic political environment.
“On the contrary, I fear the situation will now escalate further because society is so divided on fundamental issues,” he said.
--With assistance from Jody Megson.
Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek
Sam Altman Was Bending the World to His Will Long Before OpenAI
David Sacks Tried the 2024 Alternatives. Now He’s All-In on Trump
Startup Brings New Hope to the Pursuit of Reviving Frozen Bodies
The Budget Geeks Who Helped Solve an American Economic Puzzle
©2024 Bloomberg L.P.
