Slovak Prime Minister recovers

Editor’s note: Fico’s importance for world peace is enormous. He is one of the few European heads of state who opposes the escalation of the war in Ukraine and advocates political and diplomatic solutions to the conflict.

Slovak Prime Minister Fico undergoes another operation, Deputy Prime Minister says he is hopeful

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico underwent a two-hour operation on Friday that raised hopes of his recovery, a deputy prime minister said, following an assassination attempt this week that sent shockwaves through all of Europe.

Deputy Prime Minister Robert Kalinak also said that any decision to transfer Fico back to the capital Bratislava from the central city of Banska Bystrica, where he is being treated, would only be taken once there was an improvement in his condition.

“It will take a few more days to definitively know where things are going,” Kalinak told reporters outside the Banska Bystrica hospital. “I think today’s surgery… will allow us to get closer to a positive prognosis.”

“I’m in a better mood because I see that there is progress. It’s still very serious, but for me it’s hopeful.”

Miriam Lapunikova, director of the hospital treating Fico, said he was conscious and stable in the intensive care unit after the operation, which removed dead tissue from his wounds. Fico also underwent hours-long surgery on Wednesday, shortly after being shot five times at close range.

Slovak police have charged a man with attempted murder. Local media say he is a 71-year-old former shopping mall security guard and author of three collections of poetry. There was no official confirmation of his identity.

Police carried out an hours-long search of the suspect’s home in the central city of Levice, with him present, according to Makriza TV. He was wearing a bulletproof vest and helmet and carrying a plastic bag and other items.

Armed police officers, also wearing bulletproof vests, patrolled outside his home.

FEBRILE POLITICS

The shooting was the first major assassination attempt on a European political leader in more than 20 years and drew international condemnation. Political analysts and policymakers say this situation has exposed an increasingly feverish and polarized political climate, both in Slovakia and across Europe.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a political ally of Fico, told public radio on Friday that even if the Slovak leader makes a full recovery, he will not be able to work for months – and this at a critical time for the continent, which faces European Parliament elections in early June.

“We are facing an election that will decide not only the members of the European Parliament, but that, together with the elections in the US, could determine the course of war and peace in Europe,” Orbán said.

Fico and Orban criticized Western weapons supplies to Ukraine and the imposition of sanctions on Russia.

By Ayhan Uyanik and Jan Lopatka

Reporting by Ayhan Uyanik, Jan Lopatka, Gergeley Szakacs, Pawel Florkiewicz; Written by Alan Charlish and Michael Kahn; Editing by Gareth Jones

May 17, 2024, from BANSKA BYSTRICA, Slovakia, to Reuters.