The Overton Window is Shifting in Czechia and Slovakia
- Thread starter Petr
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Petr
Administrator
This whining shitlib article makes the new Fico government probably look more cool than it actually is:
spectator.sme.sk
Vengeful Fico, outrageous Danko, and Pellegrini who looks on
Politicians preoccupied with revenge should not return to power.
spectator.sme.sk
17. Oct 2023 at 18:02
Vengeful Fico, outrageous Danko, and Pellegrini who looks on
Politicians preoccupied with revenge should not return to power.
This is a confident coalition wanting to cure the frustration in Slovakia? Robert Fico can't even for a moment act as a statesman and forget the vengeance he's been harbouring for years. Peter Pellegrini tries to speak like a statesman, but it seems as if he is repeating lines from a completely different play.
And then, there is Andrej Danko. What new things can we say about a person stuck with primary school essay assignments and dreams of a ministry of football stadiums and sheep farms?
The coalition could not hold a single press conference where they didn't announce a new era that will evoke hell for some groups. A new government is always careful about the first messages it sends out.
The opposition leader in Poland, Donald Tusk, declared that if he forms a government, he will get Poland back into Europe. What did Fico announce after his victory? His blacklists: NGOs, journalists, police investigators and even diplomats.
It's personal
Behind every group of "enemies" there's his anger and his sense of injustice. After the death of Ján Kuciak, non-governmental organisations put together protests that forced him to resign. Journalists link him with corruption and expose mafia practices in his political party circle. Diplomats are damaging his name abroad.
One would think that when someone wins an election, at least for a while, they would try to pretend that they want to be prime minister for everyone. Not Fico.
If he learned lessons from the past, then it mainly involved how not to let go of power, how to cement himself within the European Union, so that he doesn't have to silently envy his Hungarian colleague.
He won, but remains frustrated. The European socialists have already shown him out, and the fact that political leaders will formally shake hands with him at the European summit doesn't mean that they will not consider him a pro-Russian risk to the rule of law and democracy.
All nominations concern him
At a press conference, he already asked respect for Danko, because the Slovak National Party has been here since the nineties. Yes, it's here, and one couldn't help but notice that whenever they got close to power, corruption was at their heels.
Danko is now coming up with nominations that will inevitably harm Fico abroad. Not because journalists and NGOs are outraged. But because entrusting the homophobic star of pro-Kremlin conspiracy television with the management of the Culture Ministry is probably a thing of the past even in Uzbekistan.
Martina Šimkovičová, the future culture minister, will also have the media in her portfolio. Sometime ago, she joined the "boycotting of mainstream liberal media" such as SME, Denník N, Aktuality, Rádio Expres and even Markíza. It's possible that Fico is smiling in his heart and considers it a quite funny revenge on journalists. Basically, his opinion on free media in Slovakia matches Šimkovičová's opinion.
The environment minister, who sees global warming as a ploy by elites to rob ordinary people of owning cars, will also be Fico's calling card abroad. The very idea of Rudolf Huliak negotiating with his European partners is terrifying.
His people
It's also Pellegrini's government. He is responsible for it, also for Šimkovičová and Huliak, for possible nominations of the criminally prosecuted ex-police chief to the head of the secret services.
Pellegrini probably hopes that an eventual successful presidential bid will finally redeem him and he will be able to distance himself from this company. He won't have to smile next to Fico, who will always see him as his failed rival.
For years to come, they will repeat the lessons learned in Smer: look how Pellegrini ended up. His own people pushed him into Fico's thrall.
Politicians busy with revenge should not return to power. The group of voters they focus on and work for is getting narrower. In the end, only their own interests will remain.
Petr
Administrator
This is the kind of baggage that has hindered the development of Slovakian nationalist forces - embarrassing boomercon-redneck ranting against the Hungarians (resembling the hatred of Russians in Poland). Which they are now forced to tone down:
en.wikipedia.org