Robert Fico

Infobox Prime Minister
name = Robert Fico


order = Prime Minister of Slovakia
president = Ivan Gašparovič
term_start = 04 July 2006
predecessor = Mikuláš Dzurinda
order2 = Member of the National Council of the Slovak Republic
Slovak National Council until 31 December 1992
term_start2 = 23 June 1992
term_end2 = 04 July 2006
birth_date = birth date and age|1964|09|15|df=y
birth_place = Topoľčany, Slovakia
party = Smer-SD

Robert Fico (September 15, 1964 in Topoľčany) is the current Prime Minister of Slovakia (since July 4, 2006).

His relatively new left-wing party "Direction – Social Democracy" (Slovak: "SMER – Sociálna demokracia") was the winner of the parliamentary elections in 2006, receiving approximately 30 percent of the votes.

Life

A lawyer, Fico acquired his legal education in the communist Czechoslovakia. He graduated from the Law Faculty of the Comenius University at Bratislava and later worked for the Institute of State and Law of the Slovak Academy of Sciences. He joined the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia in 1987.

After the Velvet Revolution of 1989, following the collapse of the communist regime in Czechoslovakia, Fico joined the Party of the Democratic Left (SDL), which was a modern successor of the Communist Party of Slovakia. As a political appointee Fico also represented Slovakia as its legal counsel at the European Court of Human Rights.

In 1999, Fico found a new party called "Smer - socialna demokracia" (Direction - the social democracy). Although at first presented as a centrist party, the Fico's new party project soon shifted towards a more leftist rhetoric, the part of the political spectrum having been left vacant after the disintegration of Fico's previous party, the SDL.

Fico soon became one of the most popular politicians in Slovakia. His rhetoric was most often aimed at the ongoing reforms being carried out at the time by the right wing government of Mikuláš Dzurinda. The reform's negative impacts increased the appeal and popularity of Fico's rhetoric.

In the parliamentary elections of 2002, Fico's SMER received 13.46% of the votes and became the third largest party. The result was much lower than the pre-election estimates and Fico openly called it a failure. Nevertheless SMER became the second largest opposition party after HZDS.

Election victory

In the following elections in 2006 SMER won with 29.1% of the votes and formed a coalition government with Vladimír Mečiar's HZDS and Ján Slota's SNS.

Both Mečiar and Slota were a part of the government coalition between the years of 1994 to 1998 during which Slovakia's EU and NATO negotiations were stopped due to alleged insufficiences in various spheres of the government and unclear privatization transactions (alleged asset stripping). At that time, Fico, as a member of the opposition, was one of Mečiar's and Slota's critics.

As a result of Fico's decision to form government with the Slovak National Party, considered to be too nationalist by some, the Party of European Socialists, decided in 2006 to suspend Fico's party candidacy. In late February 2008 the Assembly of PES decided to rehabilitate the candidacy after the commitment of SMER and SNS towards the principles of minorities respect and social solidarity.

Domestic policy

Before taking the office, Fico declared opposition to reforms carried out or started by the previous government, but adopted a more cautious approach in March 2007 [cite news|url=http://www.finance.gov.sk/Documents/1_Adresar_redaktorov/Webmaster/Mat2007/1_pk/228MF14725_2007_26/vlastny_mat.rtf|title=Proposal of Indicator Set for Monitoring of Policy Fulfilment of National Reform Agenda of Slovak Republic|date=2007-03-29|publisher=Ministry of Finance, Slovak Republic] . Any attempts to change the government spending are limited by the fact that - by c. 2008 - the country has to fulfil the very strict Maastricht criteria to be able to adopt the euro as its new currency. The new government has slightly modified the radical flat tax system introduced by the previous government in that a special, lower VAT was imposed on medications and books (there is an unofficial announcement that the same policy will also include food products if there is a dramatic increase in poverty after the planned currency changes involving the adoption of the Euro). Similarly the structure of lump-sum deductions for income tax was changed. In social and health care system, the previous government left the Fico government with considerable (current and hidden future) debts and deficits, which then had to be solved. As a result, intense discussions about modifications in the pension reform have taken place, the first planned change as of mid-2007, being the removal of the current upper limit for the obligatory pension system contributions (as used in the neighbouring Czech Republic for example). In health care, fees that people had to pay when visiting any doctor or hospital, introduced by the previous government, were abolished and there has been a proposal to replace the current system of multiple health insurance companies, seen by many as a waste of operating and administrative costs, by a system of a single (publicly owned) health insurance company, as in other countries such as Canada. Seemingly insurmountable problems with the proposals for the "renationalisation" of the existing private insurance companies, however, has essentially resulted in the idea being scrapped in mid-2007.

Foreign policy

In foreign policy, government of prime minister Fico had some difficulties in European space perception, given that he has formed a coalition with the Slovak National Party, but the distrust has been overcome in February 2008 [cite news|url=http://www.sktoday.com/content/1219_swoboda-party-european-socialists-should-give-slovakia-039-s-smer-sd-chance|title=Swoboda: Party of European Socialists Should Give Slovakia's Smer-SD A Chance|date=2008-02-13|publisher=Slovakia Today] (social democratic parties in the Czech Republic and Austria with same nationalistic tendencies are notable exceptions).

Also, he is an opponent of the planned construction of new US ABM and radar systems in military bases in the neighbouring Czech Republic and Poland (also criticized by Russia and Jean Asselborn, Luxembourg foreign minister [cite news|url=http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2007/03/05/missiledefence-eu.html|title=U.S. missile defence in Europe angers Russia|date=2007-03-05|publisher=CBC] ) and one of the first steps upon taking the office was a military pullout from Iraq, which had been part of his election campaign. His foreign trips in the first year included visits to China and Libya, for which he has been criticized by his political opponents, despite the fact that various recognized western leaders underwent the same visits. [cite news|url=http://www.mediastorehouse.com/pictures_679763/Tony-Blair-visits-China.html|title=Tony Blair visits China|publisher=Media Storehouse] [cite news|url=http://www.worldaffairsboard.com/international-defense-topics/1331-bush-blair-visit-libya.html|title=Bush, Blair to visit Libya|publisher=World Affairs Board] [cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/3567079.stm|title=Was Tony Blair right to visit Libya?|date=2004-03-31|publisher=BBC News]

Robert Fico has strongly opposed unilateral declaration of independence of Kosovo, a south province of Serbia. Fico said that that the declaration of independence is analogous to the Munich Agreement that allowed the Third Reich to annex the Czechoslovak territory of Sudetenland. He and said that he does not exclude the possibility that Slovakia will never recognize Kosovo because he considers Kosovo not as an independent territory but as an integral part of Serbia where Serbs, and members of the Albanian ethnic minority live. [cite news|url=http://www.bbj.hu/news/news_36629.html|title=Slovakia ardent in opposing Kosovo independence|date=2008-02-26|accessdate=2008-03-24|publisher=BBJ] Fico has also said that the creation of an independent Kosovo was a violation of international law, and added that it would be very difficult for his country to recognize Kosovo. [cite news|url=http://www.ana.gr/anaweb/user/showplain?maindoc=6205614&maindoc
|title=PM to FYROM: "No solution, no invitation"|date=2008-03-14|accessdate=2008-03-14|publisher=Athens News Agency] He received support in the National Council from all parties, ruling and oppostion, except for Party of the Hungarian Coalition. His deputy Prime Minister Dušan Čaplovič, said that by declaring independence without Serbian consent, Kosovo broke international law and created a precedent. He also claimed a connection between Kosovo and the problem of organised crime. [cite news |url=http://www.spectator.sk/articles/view/30829/2/slovaks_divided_on_kosovo.html |author=Ľuba Lesná |title=Slovaks divided on Kosovo |date=2008-02-25 |accessdate=2008-03-21 |work=The Slovak Spectator |publisher=The Rock s.r.o. |location=Bratislava, Slovakia]

Fico's relationship with the media

Fico has stated repeatedly that he feels that the media are his opponents. [http://www.spectator.sk/articles/view/31432/11/ficos_post_press_code_era_has_begun.html] . A SME journalist labelled the current Slovak government as "everything but press-friendly" [http://www.euractiv.com/en/pa/fundamental-problems-slovak-media-government-relations/article-170761] , after Fico called the Slovak newspapers Pravda and SME "prostitutes" [http://www.sktoday.com/content/1303_fico-called-some-slovak-media-prostitutes] because of the way they covered Slovakia's pension reform.

Cabinet of Robert Fico

References

External links

* [http://www-8.vlada.gov.sk/index.php?ID=1555 Short biography on government website]