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Robert Fico
Robert Fico, Nov 2023.jpg
Fico in 2023
Prime Minister of Slovakia
Assumed office
25 October 2023
President Zuzana Čaputová
Peter Pellegrini
Deputy
See list
Robert Kaliňák
Peter Kmec
Denisa Saková
Tomáš Taraba
Preceded by Ľudovít Ódor
In office
4 April 2012 – 22 March 2018
President Ivan Gašparovič
Andrej Kiska
Deputy
See list
Robert Kaliňák
Peter Kažimír
Miroslav Lajčák
Ľubomír Vážny
Peter Pellegrini
Lucia Žitňanská
Gabriela Matečná
Preceded by Iveta Radičová
Succeeded by Peter Pellegrini
In office
4 July 2006 – 8 July 2010
President Ivan Gašparovič
Deputy
See list
Dušan Čaplovič
Robert Kaliňák
Ján Mikolaj
Štefan Harabin
Viera Petríková
Preceded by Mikuláš Dzurinda
Succeeded by Iveta Radičová
Minister of Justice
Acting
26 March 2009 – 3 July 2009
Prime Minister Himself
Preceded by Štefan Harabin
Succeeded by Viera Petríková
Deputy Speaker of the National Council
In office
9 July 2010 – 4 April 2012
Serving with Béla Bugár, Milan Hort and Pavol Hrušovský
Speaker Richard Sulík
Pavol Hrušovský
Member of the National Council
In office
22 March 2018 – 25 October 2023
In office
8 July 2010 – 4 April 2012
In office
23 June 1992 – 4 July 2006
Chairman of Direction – Social Democracy
Assumed office
8 November 1999
Preceded by Office established
Personal details
Born (1964-09-15) 15 September 1964 (age 60)
Topoľčany, Czechoslovakia
Political party Direction – Social Democracy (1999–present)
Other political
affiliations		 Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (1986–1990)
Party of the Democratic Left (1990–1999)
Spouse
Svetlana Svobodová
​
(m. 1988)​
Children 1
Alma mater Comenius University (JUDr.)
Slovak Academy of Sciences (CSc.)
Signature

Robert Fico ( born 15 September 1964) is a Slovak politician. He has served as the Prime Minister of Slovakia since 2023, having previously served in the position from 2006 to 2010 and from 2012 to 2018. He has been the first leader of the Direction – Social Democracy (Smer) party since 1999.

Early life

Fico was born on 15 September 1964, in the town of Topoľčany in the southwestern Nitra Region. His father, Ľudovit Fico, was a forklift operator, and his mother, Emilie Ficová, worked in a shoe store. He has two siblings; his brother Ladislav is a construction entrepreneur, and his sister Lucia Chabadová, who is fourteen years younger, is a prosecutor. Fico grew up and lived with his family in the village of Hrušovany, until the age of six, when they moved to the nearby town of Topoľčany.

Education

Fico has described his childhood ambitions as wanting to become either a politician, a sports reporter, or an archeologist. After completing elementary school, he enrolled in the local Gymnasium of Topoľčany, graduating in the summer of 1982. Later the same year he enrolled in the Law Faculty of the Comenius University in Bratislava, in what was then Czechoslovakia. His teachers were impressed with him, and one of his teachers from university, the future prime minister Jozef Moravčík, described him as "ambitious, very confident and very involved in discussions." He graduated as juris doctor in 1986 specializing in criminal law.

After graduating from university, Fico completed his mandatory military service as an assistant military investigator, stationed in the (now-Czech) town of Janovice between 1986 and 1987. He later worked for the Institute of State and Law of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, as well as with the Justice Ministry until 1992. During this period he wrote and completed his PhD degree, with a thesis on "The death penalty in Czechoslovakia" and, in the early 1990s, undertook studies at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies in London under a Masaryk scholarship. In 2002 he completed his postgraduate study, earning him the title of associate professor.

Career

Fico joined the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia in 1986, having applied in 1984. After the Velvet Revolution of 1989, and the collapse of the communist regime in Czechoslovakia, Fico joined the Party of the Democratic Left (SDĽ), a successor of the Communist Party of Slovakia. He was first elected as a Member of Parliament in 1992. From 1994 to 2000 Fico represented Slovakia as its legal counsel at the European Court of Human Rights. In 1998 he was elected deputy chairman of the party.

Following his party's victory in the 2006 parliamentary election, he formed the first Fico Cabinet.

Fico's election victory in 2006 was attributed to his loud criticism of the previous right-wing government's economic, tax, social, pension and legislative reforms. The reforms were generally perceived as very positive and successful by such international bodies as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank or the OECD. However, the reforms negatively affected large segments of the population, particularly low wage earners, the unemployed, and welfare and other social assistance recipients. While in opposition, and more vocally during the election campaign, Fico vowed to reverse and cancel the majority of these reforms. However, upon taking office Fico adopted a more cautious approach, as he wanted to ensure Slovakia could fulfill the Maastricht criteria required for Euro currency adoption. This was successful, and Slovakia adopted the Euro on 1 January 2009.

Among the reforms Fico introduced, several established standards as to how many times employees could be kept on as temporary workers instead of being given permanent contracts. Under legislation of the Mikuláš Dzurinda government, an employer could keep new staff as temps and create a two-tier workforce, which many did. Slovakia's labor policies are now generally in tune with most other EU states.

One of few modifications Fico's government did implement was a slight modification to the unusual flat tax system introduced by the previous government, in a way that slightly decreased or eradicated a tax-free part of income for higher income earners. A lower value added tax was imposed on medications and books, though in spite of his election promises Fico failed to extend this onto a wider group of products such as groceries. Among the measures were legislative changes which effectively banned private health insurance companies from generating profit. As a result, Slovakia is being sued by several foreign shareholders of local health insurers through international arbitrations. In 2007, Fico unsuccessfully tried to regulate retail food prices, an unprecedented effort in a generally free market European Union.

Fico was a vocal opponent of the one-time planned construction of new U.S. anti-ballistic missile and radar systems in military bases in neighbouring Czech Republic and Poland and one of his first steps upon taking office was a military pullout from Iraq. Fico described the Iraq War as "unjust and wrong" and said that the US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003 "caused huge tensions. To speak about any democracy in Iraq is a fantasy." In November 2013, Fico visited the U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington D.C., where they spoke about the US-Slovak partnership, which Fico's spokesperson said is "based on shared democratic values and principles," after which he affirmed the strategic partnership between the two countries.

Fico and SMER-SD were vocal opponents of the Slovak–American Defence Cooperation Agreement as disadvantageous to Slovakia, attacking Cabinet of Eduard Heger, especially Minister of Defence Jaroslav Naď, as well as President Zuzana Čaputová, accusing the latter of being an "American servant", in reference to promotion of American military and political interests in Slovakia.

After the 2010 parliamentary election, Fico sat as an opposition member of parliament, effectively as leader of the opposition. Following a motion of confidence against the Iveta Radičová cabinet, Fico was re-appointed as Prime Minister after leading Smer to a landslide election victory in the 2012 parliamentary election, winning 83 seats and forming a government with an absolute majority in Parliament, the first such since 1989.

At the start of his second term as Prime Minister in 2012, Fico introduced a new "Labour Code," which granted entitlement to a lay-off notice period as well as severance pay, reduced overtime, making layoffs more expensive for employers, shorter temporary work contracts and more power for trade unions. In addition, it curbed the ‘chaining’ of fixed-term employment contracts, whereby currently it is possible to extend a fixed-term employment contract three times over three years. The Code was revised in 2014 when it introduced severe restrictions of the work on agreement performed outside regular employment. Under the latest revision, employers will be able to conclude agreements with employees for 12 months only.

In 2010, Fico faced large-scale protests and a blockade of major cities by truckers upset about what they considered to be badly implemented tolls on the highways. Truckers demanded that fuel prices be lowered to compensate for the tolls. Fico initially refused to speak with representatives of the truckers, saying he would not "be blackmailed", but a few days later capitulated. The cuts given to truckers will amount to about €100,000,000.

In 2013, Fico officially declared his candidacy for the 2014 presidential election. Fico lost the election to his political rival Andrej Kiska in the second round of voting on 29 March 2014.

Fico rejected European Commission's plan to distribute refugees and economic migrants from the Middle East and Africa among EU member states, saying: "As long as I am prime minister, mandatory quotas will not be implemented on Slovak territory." He has subsequently sought to associate refugees and Muslims with terrorism, claiming that "thousands of terrorists and Islamic State fighters are entering Europe with migrants" and stating that "We monitor every single Muslim in Slovakia." In May 2016, he stated that Slovakia will not accept "one single Muslim" migrant into the country, weeks before the country was scheduled to take over the presidency of EU. He further stated "When I say something now, maybe it will seem strange, but I'm sorry, Islam has no place in Slovakia. I think it is the duty of politicians to talk about these things very clearly and openly. I do not wish there were tens of thousands of Muslims."

On 30 November 2016, the Slovak parliament under Fico government passed a bill that requires all religious movements and organizations to have a minimum of 50,000 verified practicing members in order to become state-recognized up from 20,000.

On 15 March 2018, Fico delivered his resignation to President Andrej Kiska, who then formally charged Deputy Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini with the formation of a new government.

Fico's party, Direction – Social Democracy (Smer), won the most votes in the 2023 parliamentary election with 22.95% of the vote and winning 42 seats. His new cabinet was sworn in on 25 October 2023.

On 15 May 2024, Fico was hospitalized after an assassination attempt. Following initial reports of his "life-threatening" condition, he underwent emergency surgery and is expected to survive.

Personal life

Fico is married to Svetlana Ficová (née Svobodová), a lawyer and associate professor from Žilina. They were classmates while both were studying law at the Comenius University in Bratislava, and they married in 1988. They have one son together, Michal, who studied at the University of Economics in Bratislava. In addition to his native Slovak, Fico speaks fluent Czech, English and Russian.

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See also

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