Slovakia | Slovakia’s prime minister, who has recovered from the shooting, continues to oppose anti-corruption

Slovak populist prime minister Robert Ficon the reforms pushed by the government have progressed at a fast pace after Fico, who was seriously wounded in the shooting, has recovered and returned to work.

The reforms have been seen, for example, as intervention in the fight against corruption and in the media and culture sectors.

Fico, who turned 60 on Sunday, was shot last May. He was taken to the hospital in a critical condition, but he returned to the public already in Junewhen he said he would gradually return to work later in the summer.

Fico is taking Slovakia in the same direction as Hungary’s authoritarian leader Viktor Orbán has taken his own country, say Fico’s critics news agency Reuters by.

In August In Slovakia, a reform of the criminal law came into force, which, among other things, mitigated the punishments given for corruption, says Politico– online magazine. The reform also shortened the statute of limitations for such crimes.

The changes to the Criminal Code were quickly passed in the parliament in February. In the summer, the Commission of the European Union was concerned that the changes might hinder the supervision of the use of EU money.

After that, the Slovak government improved the law, among other things, so that the punishments for crimes involving EU money were slightly toughened, the news agency reported Reuters.

As part of the criminal law reform package, the special prosecutor’s office, which had been tasked with investigating cases of corruption in state officials, was also abolished.

In addition, in August, the Slovak government disbanded the national NAKA criminal police, which had been working with the special prosecutor, and whose tasks also included the investigation of serious corruption cases, Politico reports.

In July former director of NAKA, among others Ľubomír Daňko and a former prosecutor Michal Shurek was charged with abuse of office, said Politico. According to it, they have previously investigated a corruption case in which, among others, Fico was suspected of corruption.

In August, the former special prosecutor was released from prison Dušan Kováčikwho served an eight-year sentence for accepting bribes. The Supreme Court acquitted him of the Minister of Justice Boris Susko after an extraordinary appeal, says Slovak Spectator website.

Justice Minister Susko, like Prime Minister Fico, belongs to the ruling Smer party. The freed Kováčik is among Fico’s allies who were indicted when Fico’s previous term as prime minister ended in 2018, according to investigative journalists VSquare website.

Last In the last few weeks, measures aimed at the cultural sector in Slovakia have stirred up. According to estimates, almost half of the officials of the Slovak Ministry of Culture have been fired in recent months, says Balkan Insight website.

Fico’s government’s minister of culture represents the far-right, pro-Russian SNS party Martina Šimkovičová. he is Reuters has said that he opposes “liberal progressive” ideas and that he defends traditional culture and national self-determination.

In August, the Minister of Culture fired, among others, the directors of the Slovak National Gallery and the National Theater, which aroused strong opposition, at least on the streets of the capital Bratislava.

Šimkovičová has also been leading the process by which the Slovak broadcasting company RTVS was dissolved in early summer. It was replaced by a TV and radio production facility called STVR, whose program content the government can influence more than the previous version, says Deutsche Welle.

Last In recent weeks, the intervention in the cultural sector in particular has triggered anti-government protests in Slovakia.

Supporters of the opposition and opponents of the government’s actions have demonstrated repeatedly since Fico’s current government coalition began last fall. The topics of the demonstrations have varied. Last spring, there were large demonstrations in Slovakia in support of Ukraine, when Fico’s government refused to give arms aid to Ukraine.