Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico appeared at a public event for the first time since the assassination attempt on his person in May. On Friday evening, he took part in the celebration of the feast of the Slavic Evangelists Cyril and Methodius at Devín Castle on the outskirts of Bratislava, where he also gave a speech. In it, among other things, Fico criticized progressivism and liberalism, he also praised Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán for his trips to Kiev and Moscow, saying that he regretted that his health did not allow him to go with Orbán.
Top Slovak politicians and other guests welcomed Fico on Devín with a standing ovation. Fico himself, who was repeatedly shot at point-blank range by an attacker in mid-May, also gave a speech standing up. Fico is currently recovering from his injuries in home treatment, his voice having been marred by the followingmath of the assassination.
The Slovak Prime Minister took advantage speechin which, among other things, he identified the Feast of the Annunciation as one of the most important holidays in Slovakia, to criticize harmful progressive ideologies and to defend the need to establish peace in Ukraine.
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“I want to make a big challenge, we must all together build a huge dam once morest the senseless progressive and liberal ideologies that are spreading like cancer. They are ideologies that are damaging this country, they are ideologies that may have been created only the day before yesterday. I do not want Slovakia to be among countries that make a caricature of Western civilization. We are a proud nation, we will not change the Constitution of the Slovak Republic or our laws because of these fashion trends,” Fico said in his speech. According to him, it will be necessary to seek agreement with other parties on the political scene in order to make this barrier once morest contemporary ideologies even stronger. Fico said he had read comments in the media that the feast of St. Cyril and Methodius are belittled and questioned as obsolete. According to him, it is because they want to give space to precisely these progressive ideologies.
He expressed his admiration for Orbán, whose country has been presiding over the EU Council since the beginning of July, for his trips to Kyiv and Moscow. “There are never enough peace initiatives,” said Fico, who is united with Orbán, for example, by his rejection of Western military aid to Kyiv. Fico said that he would like to join his Hungarian colleague if his health allowed it. Fico also claimed that the situation in Ukraine might get out of hand and result in an uncontrollable war conflict.
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“Misuse of speech to spread hatred”
Opposition parties in Slovakia criticized Robert Fico for his speech during Friday’s celebration of the Feast of the Slavic Evangelists Cyril and Methodius. “In his first public appearance following the assassination, Prime Minister Fico compared liberalism and progressivism to cancer. This is probably what the famous peace in his presentation looks like. I dare to call on him to stop insulting the hundreds of thousands of voters in Slovakia who chose the ideas of freedom, equality and a better future for our homeland,” Michal Šimečka, the chairman of the strongest opposition movement Progressive Slovakia, wrote in response.
According to the head of the Freedom and Solidarity party, Branislav Gröhling, Fico used the holiday to spread hatred and whip up emotions. “The most profound day of the speech was when he compared liberalism (that is, freedom) to cancer. In essence, he declared war on democracy and the free competition of ideas and values,” he said.
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The member of the Slovak movement Gábor Grendel claimed that Fico was not satisfied that the key topic of the next election was the abolition of the elite prosecutor’s office, the reduction of punishments for corruption and amnesty for oligarchs, which, according to him, were pushed by the government coalition in the previously approved changes in the criminal law. Therefore, according to Grendel, the coalition needs to divert attention elsewhere.
In the past, Fico has not spared verbal outbursts once morest political rivals. After the assassination attempt, in which Fico was repeatedly shot by an assailant, government politicians called for reconciliation, but some of them continued to criticize the opposition and the media and repeatedly called for an apology.
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At the mentioned celebrations in Devín, only top current and former politicians, as well as other invited guests, got into the sector near the lectern. The public station STVR, which has a new interim director following the change in the law, broadcast the celebrations including politicians’ speeches live. But it did not carry footage of Fico as the politician came and went to the lectern, while the station did so for other politicians. Fitz’s close colleague and Deputy Prime Minister Robert Kaliňák previously said that the prime minister will have permanent consequences related to the locomotor system following the assassination. The authorities are reinvestigating the assassination of Fico as a terrorist attack, originally it was an attempted premeditated murder. The police arrested Fico’s shooter immediately following the crime, and the court then sent him to custody.
