Slovakia: Prime Minister Fico’s position is weakening

In April 2015, the media revealed three major scandals involving contacts between Smer-SD (the left-wing party currently governing Slovakia) and business circles.

Firstly, on 21 April 2015, the minister for the economy, Pavol Pavlis, handed in his resignation in response to numerous accusations of nepotism and conflict of interest.

Secondly, the Ministry of Agriculture needed to deal with a scandal concerning suspicious operations involving land regained in the process of restitution.

Finally, Smer was also in trouble due to the financial problems of the large construction company, Vahostav-SK. This firm, controlled by Juraj Siroky, has failed to pay its subcontractors for over one year for work carried out predominantly as part of state investments.

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