(Reuters) – Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico looks set to survive an upcoming no-confidence vote after rebel lawmakers in one ruling coalition party said they would not support the motion.
Opposition parties said on Tuesday they were initiating a no-confidence vote against Fico’s leftist-nationalist government, accusing him of dragging the country’s foreign policy closer to Russia while doing little to fix problems at home.
The government has shifted its foreign policy focus since coming to power late in 2023 by ending state military aid to Ukraine as it fights a full-scale Russian invasion and renewing ties with Moscow, including Fico’s visit there last month.
Fico has faced dissent from four lawmakers from Hlas (Voice), one junior party in the ruling coalition, whose support in the no-confidence vote – likely to take place next week – had been seen as critical.
“We are part of the ruling coalition and we do not have a reason to support the opposition in dismissing the prime minister,” one of the rebel lawmakers, Jan Ferencak, said on broadcaster TA3.
Ferencak added that changing the direction of foreign policy in a way that would affect the country’s firm roots in the EU and NATO — which Fico has not suggested doing — would be a red line, however.
Fico saw his majority in parliament shrink to 76 out of 150 seats when three deputies left SNS, the other junior ruling party, late last year – although they had backed the government’s budget plan in a crucial December vote.
Hlas and SNS have also been locked in disputes.
The four Hlas dissenters have previously criticised some ministers, called for a cabinet reshuffle and blocked legislation in parliament.
Fico, a four-time prime minister, has said a government shake-up or early elections were among his options if his coalition partners could not get their deputies in line.
At the same time, Fico has argued with Ukraine and its president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, after Kyiv this month halted Russian gas shipments transiting its territory to Slovakia.
But at home, the opposition say he has done little to tackle issues like a wide budget deficit, the impact of high prices and problems in the healthcare system.
(Reporting by Jan Lopatka and Jason Hovet; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
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