Slovakia: Robert Fico’s third term as prime minister

On 22 March 2016 the leaders of four political parties – Smer-SD, the Slovak National Party (SNS), Most-Híd and Sieť – signed a coalition agreement and presented the makeup of the new cabinet led by Prime Minister Robert Fico. Smer-SD, which had ruled the country by itself, had a dominant position in the new cabinet. Its coalition partners received six of the fifteen positions in the government and were successful in including a number of their proposals in the coalition agreement. In effect, the new cabinet’s agenda was a mixture of the pre-election slogans of left-wing Smer-SD, statist SNS, and the parties which had been criticising Fico’s government: the Hungarian-Slovak party Most-Híd and the conservative grouping Sieť. The new cabinet continued its previous policy, in particular in the areas of foreign relations (Miroslav Lajčák maintained his position as minister of foreign affairs) and the economy. Even though their political manifestos did not overlap, the four parties which formed the government coalition were likely to see out a full term.

• Primary Source

ESO: Background information: Robert Fico wins Slovakian election, but loses majority http://www.europeansources.info/record/robert-fico-wins-slovakian-election-but-loses-majority-slovakias-president-swears-in-contentious-coalition-government/

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