Fic’s hidden face. Journalists described how the Slovak prime minister behaves away from the cameras

Journalist Kateřina Šafaříková has a clear answer to the question of whether the current Slovak government is pro-Russian. “Yes. Not only that Slovakia is now led by politicians who claim that they want peace with Russia and refuse to support Ukraine by, for example, supplying weapons. In connection with this, I will remind you of the statement of the Prime Minister of that government from the anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, when he said that Putin is demonized. This sentence has not yet been heard by any responsible politician in the government (from European Union countries, editor’s note),” he explains his view.

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However, he reminds that people can hear similar statements from the French extreme right, the Belgian extreme right and other minority parties. According to the editors, however, among current European political leaders, Fico took first place.

In the new E40 podcast, the pair of editors also respond to the comparison of Andrej Babiš and the ANO party with the winner of this year’s elections in a neighboring country. “Without wanting to somehow defend Andrej Babiš and ANO, I really think that ANO is not the Direction. Babiš is of course heavily driven by anti-immigration rhetoric, uses fear of Islam, of Muslims, of immigrants. This connects him with Fico and Orbán, in I think that Babiš is really authentic. As for Russia, I perceive that he is different from the two,” says reporter Martin Novák. According to the journalists, the reputation of the former prime minister at the European level should become the subject of one of the other parts of the podcast.

According to Šafaříková, Fico, with his sharp rhetoric and opposition to aid in Ukraine, appears exclusively on Slovak soil, but is considerably more humble during negotiations with other European leaders. “He has a reputation as a very consensual person. He sits, sometimes he says something, mostly he doesn’t say anything, he more or less nods to everything. Then he goes to Bratislava, calls his video team and makes a video where he criticizes everyone in retrospect,” he describes.

Journalist Kateřina Šafaříková and reporter Martin Novák have been covering events in Europe for almost a quarter of a century. Kateřina was always closer to the countries west of the Czech Republic, while Martin was drawn in the opposite direction. Now they meet in the podcast Aktuálně.cz E40 to discuss together the events that drive European events and perhaps even uncover their behind-the-scenes.