FLASH
Shkruar nga Tonia Mastrobuoni
Bratislava, the "black hole" of Eastern Europe
In 1999 they asked George W. Bush what he knew about Slovakia. The American president replied: "Everything a Slovak minister told me."
In fact he was the Slovenian foreign minister. A classic barsalet, for this small country squeezed between the Danube and the Carpathians and coveted for millennia by its insatiable neighbors: Hungarians, Austrians and Czechs.
Slovenians are not related at all and the only confusion has come from semantic proximity. But from this morning it will be difficult to confuse Bratislava with Ljubljana.
Because, starting today, it risks shaking Europe. The winner of the elections is "Red Bully", former Prime Minister Robert Fico. The "red" leader who now embarrasses the family of European socialists. And that is a danger for European unity in supporting Ukraine.
Insults, xenophobia and pro-Putinism
His populist metamorphosis has actually transformed Robert Fico into a pro-Russian, xenophobic and anti-vax element who viciously attacks his opponents. He went so far as to describe the current President of the Republic, the progressive Zuzana Caputova, as a "whore" and "witch".
For Fico, she is nothing more than a "puppet of George Soros". She sued him, but also announced that she will not run again next year. The death threats to which she is exposed are very serious. The climate in the country is severe, pro-Russian propaganda is omnipresent. And Fico is immersed in it.
Last year, the former prime minister took to the streets with the far right to protest against the deployment of American soldiers in Slovakia. He then branded the parties of the Heger government as "traitors to the fatherland" after their support for Ukraine. If he were to become prime minister, Fico has already promised to ignore the international arrest warrant against Vladimir Putin.
The unknown of alliances
His powerful electoral message was a commitment not to send any more weapons to Kiev. Bratislava risks becoming the Kremlin's closest ally after Orbán's Hungary. But a margin of doubt remains. Of course, his party is first. But Fico will have to look for allies in the fragmented framework of the Slovak party. And many hope that the coalition he will be forced to form will moderate his authoritarian and anti-European ambitions. "If he were to return to power, he could attempt an authoritarian control over Orban: the risk is that he would take control of the police and the judicial system." But for Repubblica, Albin Sybera, analyst at Visegrad Insight, explains that Fico's return is above all a way "to avoid trials against him".
Fifty-nine years old, in love with sports cars and passionate about football, Fico began his career in the Czechoslovak Communist Party.
After '92, in independent Slovakia, he founded a social democratic party: Smer!
His favorite phrase is "patience always brings red roses". He gave little to his country.
The Black Hole of Eastern Europe
As the great veteran of American foreign policy, Madeleine Albright, said, Bratislava continued to be "a black hole" in Europe freed from Soviet regimes. Ruined by corruption, connections between politics and mobsters, permeated by an irresistible pro-Russian nostalgia.
Në atë mandat problematik, në dymbëdhjetë vitet në të cilat ai qeveriste (midis 2006 dhe 2018), Fico mblodhi rreth tij bandat e rrezikshme kriminale. E këtë e thanë gjyqtarët me vendim të formës së prerë.
Në proceset e ndryshme kundër tij, drejtësia zbuloi edhe lidhje shqetësuese me 'Ndrangheta'-n kalabreze.
“Fico përfaqëson të shkuarën: gjysma e elektoratit të tij janë pensionistë që jetojnë në zonat rurale. Qëllimi i tij i vetëm është të rrëmbejë pushtetin”.
Politologu Grigorij Meseznikov, themelues i Institutit për Çështjet Publike (Ivo) në Bratislavë, thekson se në Sllovaki, ashtu si në Hungari dhe Poloni, fushata e urrejtjes së Ficos kundër liberalizmit ishte çelësi i suksesit të tij. Sepse shpesh identifikohet në vendet lindore me kapitalizmin më grabitqar që erdhi pas përfundimit të perandorisë sovjetike.
“Në një sondazh të kohëve të fundit, pyetjes: “A e përkrahni demokracinë?”, 80% e sllovakëve u përgjigjën: po. Por në pyetjen “A e përkrahni demokracinë liberale?”, vetëm 20% janë përgjigjur po”, thotë Meseznikov.
Vrasja e Kuciak
Në vitin 2018, një ngjarje e tmerrshme e zgjoi vendin nga varësia e lodhur ndaj politikës së korruptuar në të cilën kishte rënë. Dhe për t'i dhënë Sllovakisë disa vite hir, angazhim të jashtëzakonshëm civil kundër keqbërjes, duke lejuar kthimin në samitet e Bratislavës të politikanëve pro-evropianë dhe "të pastër", në radhë të parë Presidentes Caputova.
Në shkurt të vitit 2018, gazetari investigativ Jan Kuciak u vra në shtëpi, së bashku me të dashurën e tij, Martina Kusnirova. Kur vrasësit e godasin në shkallët e bodrumit të shtëpisë së tij, gazetari i ‘Aktuality’ po shkruante për lidhjet midis 'Ndrangheta-s dhe dy njerëzve të afërt të Ficos: këshilltarja e tij, ish-modelja Maria Troskova dhe Viliam Jasan, kryekëshilltari i tij për Sigurinë. Të dy ishin të lidhur me sipërmarrësin Antonio Vadalà, kreu i një dege të fuqishme të NDragheta-s, i cili gjeti një minierë ari në Sllovaki.
He ended up on trial for diverting European funds and importing cocaine from South America. After the event, Bratislava was shaken by a wave of indignation: hundreds of thousands of citizens took to the streets, protests continued for weeks. Fico had a reaction of his own. He presented himself to journalists waving a wad of money and promising one million euros to anyone who provides information on Kuciak's murder.
In March, however, he gave in to the protests and resigned. Since then he remained in the opposition and mostly spent his time avoiding criminal proceedings against him./Adapted from La Republika: Pamphlet
Lini një Përgjigje