Robert Fico

Some Lesser Known Facts About Robert Fico

• Fico spent the first six years in his ancestral village in Hrušovany.

• At the age of ten, he along with his family relocated to a town situated close to Topoľčany.

• As a child, he wished to make a career either as a politician, a sports reporter, or an archaeologist.

• After completing his schooling, Fico joined the Communist Party of Slovakia as a student activist.

  

• As a law student, he was taught by Jozef Moravčík, who went on to become the future Prime Minister of Slovakia.

  

• Fico excelled in law studies. His teachers described him as “ambitious, very confident, and very involved in discussions.”

• He met his wife, Svetlana Ficova, while they both were studying law at Comenius University Bratislava.

• Following the completion of his formal education, Robert Fico was conscripted into the Slovakian Army as an officer.

• He applied to become a member of the Communist Party of Slovakia in 1984.

• From 1986 to 1987, Fico served as an assistant military investigator (an army lawyer) in Janovice, which is now in the Czech Republic.

  

• He served in the Legal Institute of the Ministry of Justice of the Slovak Republic from 1986 to 1995.

• From 1987 to 1988, he served as a judicial trainee and judicial examiner in the Government of Czechoslovakia.

• In 1989, he left the Communist Party after it was overthrown following the Velvet Revolution.

• After completing his mandatory military service, he began working at the Slovak Academy of Sciences’ Institute of State and Law. There, he served till 1992.

• He also served in an important post in the Ministry of Justice until 1992.

• In the same year, he became a Member of the Czechoslovakia Parliament. He gained fame among the public for raising issues related to their standard of living.

  

• It is claimed that his inclination towards Russia strengthened during his time in the military as in the 1980s, Slovakia was a part of the Soviet-led Eastern bloc.

  

• For his PhD, he wrote a thesis titled “The death penalty in Czechoslovakia.”

• He studied under the Masaryk scholarship at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, a part of University College London (UCL).

• In 1994, he was chosen as the legal counsel for Czechoslovakia at the European Court of Human Rights. Till 2000, he represented the government in 14 cases; however, all the cases were lost.

• Fico announced in 1998 that he would be contesting to become a general prosecutor in the government. However, his party sidelined him for another candidate, stating that Fico was too young and inexperienced to run for the post.

• In the same year’s parliamentary elections, Fico received the highest votes among his party members.

  

• He along with four other associates decided to float a political party in 1998. The party, Direction – Social Democracy (SMER), was established in 1999.

• To improve the party’s chances of survival, Robert Fico implemented several strict rules under the “clean hands” policy. It banned members who previously held a post in the communist party or served in any other political establishment from holding appointments within the party.

  

• He left the Party of the Democratic Left (SDĽ) in 1999 over ideological and method of working differences.

• He later received the title of associate professor at the UCL for getting good grades.

• In 2000, he passed the Bar Association Examination with good marks and became a member.

• He was appointed as a defence counsel training for the International Criminal Court in Hague in 2003.

• He has penned many research articles in the field of human rights and criminal law. These articles have been published in countries such as the United States of America, England, Finland, Belgium and France.

• He has also taught law at many universities in England, Russia, and Slovakia.

• In 2003, he changed the name of the SMER to Direction (Third Way) known in Slovak as Smer (tretia cesta) and later to Smer-SD.

• By 2004, SMER saw the merger of many left-wing political parties including SDĽ.

• In the 2006 Slovak Parliamentary Elections campaigning, Fico argued against the implementation of liberal economic policies inspired by the West.

• As per sources, Fico managed to lead his party to a win in the 2006 elections as his claims of the previous government’s healthcare and education sectors’ reforms being unsatisfactory and corrupt were supported by organisations like the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the World Bank (WB).

• Despite being able to form a government in the centre in 2006, his party was criticised and later suspended till 2008 for forging an alliance with Mečiar’s Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) and the Nationalist Slovak National Party (SNS) as a coalition with the smaller parties was seen unconstitutional in Slovakia.

• In 2007, during his leadership, land in the village Tatra that was worth $1.5 billion was sold to GVM Enterprises by a minister for under $13 million. This led to the government receiving criticism from the citizens. He talked about it. in an interview, and said,
  

  We will not take the property of the people of Slovakia from under their asses.”

• In the same year, he went to Libya, where he met Muammar Gaddafi, the then-military dictator. There, Fico discussed “the fight against world imperialism” with him.

  

• Many ministers and his party are known for their extreme conservative views. The party has many times officially released anti-LGBTQIA+, anti-Romani, Islamophobic, anti-immigration, and sexist statements.

• In 2008, SMER applied to become a member of the Party of European Socialists (PES), a transnational political party in Europe. The application was rejected based on SMER politicians making remarks about minorities and their rights in the Czech Republic as well as in Slovakia.

• Later, PES agreed to view their petition and admitted them on the condition to respect minority rights.

  

• In January 2008, after Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia, Fico criticised Kosovo and received a lot of criticism from the Slovaks.

• In the same year, Fico released a statement in which he criticised Georgia for “instigating” Russia that led to the invasion.

• His government unsuccessfully sought to take control of the stakes owned by subsidiaries owned by the French and German gas corporations named Gaz de France (GDF) and E.ON SE.

• During his term as the first Prime Minister of Slovakia, the country’s status in the European Union (EU) increased. However, many procurement scandals also took place leading to a loss of millions of Euros from the treasury.

• In 2009, Slovakia became part of the Eurozone.

• Despite receiving 34 per cent of votes in the 2010 Parliamentary Elections, Fico was unable to form a government as right-wing parties collaborated to form a government.

• Before the 2010 elections, he had a very strong support of public, but the support ended after an audiotape scandal came to the limelight in which he was heard giving an account of corruption that he allegedly did.

• After forming the government in 2010, Fico increased the road toll tax. This led to massive unrest among the truckers in Slovakia. Initially, Fico refused to address the situation; however, after some time, he agreed to reduce the toll collected from the truckers.

• Following his victory in the 2012 Parliamentary elections, Fico established the first one-party government in Slovakia since its independence in 2003. The last time there was a one-party government was in 1993 when Czechoslovakia existed.

• In 2012, his government implemented a labour law which made it mandatory for the employer to provide a lay-off notice period, severance pay, reduced overtime, making layoffs more expensive for employers, shorter temporary work contracts, and more power for trade unions.

• He later implemented Value Added Taxation (VAT) to medicines and books for which he received a lot of criticism.

• His government has also been taken to the international court for implementing laws that led to a decrease in the values of the stakes held by foreign insurance companies in the Slovakian health industry.

• In the 2014 Parliamentary elections in Slovakia, Fico was defeated by Andrej Kiska, an independent candidate.

• In 2015, Fico, while addressing the European migrant crisis, made an anti-Muslim statement and said that “there is no place of Islam in Slovakia.”

• In 2016, Robert Fico failed to prove his majority in the parliamentary elections. Therefore, he allied with the Slovak National Party, the Most–Híd, and the Slovak Conservative Party to prove his majority and become the Prime Minister.

• He is often criticised for bringing law reforms that have led to a degradation in the justice system of the country. He has also lowered penalties given to sexual abusers and murderers.

• The US often accused his party of spreading anti-US and pro-Russian propaganda.

• Smer’s foreign policy manifesto claims that Slovakia’s government would deal “less” with the countries following a parliamentary form of government.

• In April 2017, he accused the American hedge-fund billionaire George Soros and the then President of Slovakia Andrej Kiska of conspiring against him.

• He, however, resigned from his post on 14 March 2018 to contest in early elections due to political instability in Slovakia caused by the murder of Ján Kuciak, an investigative journalist.

• He named Peter Pellegrini, his subordinate, as the next Prime Ministerial candidate.

• From 2018 to 2020, Fico did not participate in any political activity.

• In 2020, while the government was advocating for vaccination and adherence to lockdown and other precautionary measures during the COVID-19 pandemic, his party opposed these efforts in Slovakia.

• In the same year, Smer was divided due to differences in political ideologies. This led to the creation of Voice – Social Democracy.

• Fico had numerous times expressed his opinions against the Slovak government’s decision to send a contingent of troops to Afghanistan in a non-combat role to assist the United States of America.

• Fico has often made headlines for his anti-West and pro-Russia statements. He has often supported the Russian invasion of Ukraine by calling Ukraine being run by a Nazi regime.

• In 2023, he started a campaign named “Not A Single Round For Ukraine.” Under this, he campaigned for not sending ammunition and other war-like aid to Kyiv in its war against Russia.

• This came at a time when other members of the US-led North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries were providing aid to Ukraine.

  

• He has also raised his voice against the implementation of the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence, also known as the Istanbul Convention, Slovakia, claiming it to be against the conservative principles of Slovakia.

• Although he claimed to be a devout Roman Catholic before the 2023 elections, his Communist Party joining form from 1984 states that he is an atheist. He also claimed to have a scientific Marxist-Leninist worldview.

• Smer officially follows democratic principles, but there is a belief in communist nostalgia, which is the desire to revert to socialist principles before the collapse of the Soviet Union. Members refer to each other as “comrades,” a salutation used by the Soviets before the collapse. In January 2024, Fico was seen paying his respects at the grave of the last Slovakian communist President, Gustav Husák.

• He is an avid dog lover. He owns a pet white colour Labrador named Larry the Labrador.

  

• He has often expressed his desire to establish a China and Vietnam type of political structure in Slovakia.

  

• To remain fit, Robert Fico likes to exercise. He goes for a swim every day.

  

• In June 2023, Fico asked for the passing of a law that declared NGOs functioning on foreign aid as “foreign agents.”

• He shares a very poor relationship with the media. He has often abused and attacked the media personnel and accused them of promoting instability in the country.

• He also passed a law under which he sought placement of the news channels under a nationalised body whose board was to be appointed by the Fico’s government.

• His government also implemented a law that closed the Special Prosecutor’s Office. This office was in charge of dealing with cases of corruption and financial scandals.

• In October 2023, SMER was suspended by PES as its member. The party was suspended because of its connection with “extreme nationalists.”

• He is well-versed in many languages including English, Russian, and Slovak.

• In January 2024, Slovakia threatened to veto America’s bid to make Ukraine a member of NATO. This was met with a lot of criticism from other NATO members. However, when he met the Ukrainian PM Denys Shmyhal in the same month, he changed his stand and extended Slovakia’s support for Ukraine.

  

• On 15 May 2024, a 71-year-old man named Juraj Cintula shot Fico five times; four times in the stomach and one time in the arm. After the shooting, Fico was admitted to a hospital, where he underwent emergency surgery for five hours.

  

• On 16 May 2024, doctors revealed that Fico was medically stable and had no serious issue.

• The assassination attempt on him was criticised by many world leaders such as Narendra Modi, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden.