Vienna/Budapest, March 7 (CTK) – Slovakia has ended up hit by hangover after the weekend elections, which is a warning for others, including Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka, the Austrian daily Der Standard writes yesterday.
In the Saturday polls, parliament was entered by the right-wing radicals from the Kotleba-People’s Party Our Slovakia, and also some protest parties.
“The newly emerged situation, with a mixture of [eight] parties [in parliament] is bitter for the country, but it is also a horrible piece of news for the Europeans who trust a joint approach to tackling global problems rather than a national approach,” Der Standard writes.
“Before taking over the EU presidency in July, Slovakia will probably have a government patched in a provisory way and accountable to a totally fragmented parliament including the far-right People’s Party Our Slovakia of Marian Kotleba,” Der Standard writes.
Unlike outgoing Slovak Social Democrat Prime Minister Robert Fico, his Czech counterpart Bohuslav Sobotka (Social Democrats, CSSD) has accepted the refugee relocation quotas and he has continuously dissociated himself from the xenophobic statements of President Milos Zeman. However, Sobotka has faced pressure over this on the domestic political scene, Der Standard writes.
Fico has shown that the playing of the national card may result in a Pyrrhic victory that harms his party, country and also Europe, the daily writes.
Slovak PM Robert Fico released a bad genie from the bottle by his pre-election rhetoric. As a result, he has to swallow not only bitter pills but also “a toad” within the government-forming talks, the Hungarian daily Nepszabadsag writes yesterday.
“The political tsunami of the Saturday evening is to blame on politicians and their mistakes. Robert Fico believed that an excessive emphasis on the refugee crisis would enable him to ignore the complicated troubles faced by the health and education sectors. However, his tactic released a bad genie from the bottle,” Nepszabadsag writes.
“Kotleba, the racist, based his campaign on the xenophobia fomented by Fico,” Nepszabadsag writes.
He who will try to form a functioning government coalition now will have not only swallow bitter pills, but also a toad. “Robert Fico, who wants to keep his declining power, has already said he is ready to do so,” the paper writes.
rtj/mr/hol
