Slovakia: Fico accuses opposition of planning coup
The opposition in the Slovakian parliament tried to table a motion of no confidence against Prime Minister Robert Fico on Tuesday, but he prevented this by presenting an intelligence report accusing the opposition of planning a "Maidan", a coup along the lines of the 2014 protests in Ukraine, to seize power.
Autocracy-style deterrence
Aktuality.sk warns of imminent repression:
“Fico wants to scare the pro-Western section of the public, which has been protesting practically since the government was first formed. He wants people to be afraid of going to protests - because, for example, it could come to a provoked event that triggers a series of others such as arrests, deployment of security forces, etc. ... Fico is thus continuing his attacks on the last remnants of the rule of law, destabilising Slovakia and introducing practices that are typical of autocratic regimes. The worst thing that can happen is that his critics start to fear him. Then he will win.”
His allies in Prague are tellingly silent
The political forces in the neighbouring Czech Republic have good reason to follow events in Slovakia closely, says Respekt:
“It cannot be ruled out that the coming weeks in Slovakia will be very dramatic to say the least, and that the rule of law and democracy will hang in the balance. This could also have an impact on Czech politics. Fico and his Smer party are among the closest political allies of [Czech opposition leader and former prime minister] Andrej Babiš. And the latter is being very careful not to complicate this alliance by criticising it. In a way, Slovakia and Hungary are becoming model states for us, where the public can observe what Fico's Czech allies want to achieve in our country in the future.”