Recent reforms by Robert Fico’s government in Bratislava have drawn intense scrutiny for undermining the rule of law — prompting the European Parliament to renew its call to freeze EU funding for Slovakia.
Slovak defence minister Robert Kaliňák announced Bratislava wants to join the Baltic Air Policing mission with its new F-16 fighter jets — mixing up the confusing cocktail of Robert Fico’s government foreign-policy messaging.
Putin and Fico look like losers at ‘Victory’ paradeJust six leaders from UN-recognised states joined Russian president Vladimir Putin — from Belarus, Kazakhstan, Laos, Malaysia, Slovakia, and Uzbekistan — highlighting his isolation.
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A veteran watchdog of the rule of law in Hungary, German Green MEP Daniel Freund warns that Slovakia is now going down a similar path. He said the EU Commission must trigger the conditionality mechanism immediately to protect EU taxpayer money from being funnelled into private interests, to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past, where it took over a decade to penalise Hungary.
MEPs had been criticising Robert Fico’s government for abolishing the National Criminal Agency and the Special Prosecutor’s Office, and most recently attempts to the same for the Office for the Protection of Whistleblowers.
Responsibility for Europe reads differently from Bratislava than from Brussels. The new German defence strategy is worth reading carefully, particularly from the capitals whose security still depends on German territory. Responsibility for Europe will be defined in the next decade by what Berlin does if Washington no longer underwrites European defence at previous levels. Germany has now stated, in writing, that this is the planning horizon.
“The Hungarian and Slovakian ambassadors briefly took the floor,” said one EU diplomat, as Hungary’s veto on a €90bn EU loan for Ukraine fell.
Hungarian foreign affairs minister Péter Szijjártó, in a conversation with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, said that Budapest and Bratislava would help Russians get off the EU sanctions list. Meanwhile, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also lobbied Robert Fico in a letter on behalf of a Russian oligarch.
A leaked transcript of a 2020 phone call suggests Hungary’s foreign minister sought Moscow’s help to bolster a Slovak ally ahead of a pivotal election, raising fresh questions about Budapest’s ties to the Kremlin and deepening concerns within the EU over trust, influence and the handling of sensitive information.
EU leaders failed to convince Hungary to lift its veto on Ukraine support, as president Volodomyr Zelensky lamented the blockage.
Slovakia had pushed for the EU to delist two Russian oligarchs, but did a U-turn on Saturday.
Global arms flows are surging to Cold War levels, fuelled by European rearmament and the war in Ukraine. Ukraine, Poland, and the Czech Republic are reshaping Europe’s defence landscape, while a Czechoslovak Group’s record-breaking IPO exposes links between business and politics. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia eyes Ukrainian weapons amid drone threats, highlighting a defence boom that is both highly profitable and increasingly entangled with geopolitics.
Slovakia has said it would block the rollover of the existing visa-bans and asset-freezes on Russia due on 15 March, unless the EU first delists two Russian oligarchs.
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Russian oil via the Druzhba pipeline has halted, sparking tensions between Slovakia, Hungary and Ukraine, although Brussels says supplies remain stable. In contrast, Kyiv builds cyber ties with other EU countries while Baltic states bolster border defences.
Last year, Europe became Ukraine’s main supporter, providing over $200bn (€170bn) in military, financial, and humanitarian aid, while US assistance dropped sharply, shifting the war’s centre of gravity to the EU.
Hungary and Slovakia risk delaying new EU sanctions on Russia, but Malta is falling into line, less than a week before Europe’s Ukraine-anniversary deadline.
Accusations of corruption, favouritism, eroding the rule of law and judicial independence under Robert Fico’s Slovak government are aired in the European Parliament.