Europe 'paused' on Wednesday to watch "the saddest day of democracy in Slovakia", as the country's Interior Minister Matúš Šutaj Eštok was heard describing it. At issue is the assassination attempt on Prime Minister Robert Fico, who was targeted by five shots. Less than 24 hours after the attack, the government is already saying that Fico "will survive", after the severity of the situation had him “fighting for his life”. Also this Thursday, the hospital where he is hospitalized confirmed that, despite being stable, the head of government is in a “very complicated” state.

But who is Fico?

Robert Fico was born in Topoľčany, a small town in Lithuania, the son of a truck driver and a factory worker. Today, at 59, he is one of the most dissenting European leaders of the 27, but as a young man, and at the national level, he always remained very 'within the system'. As the British newspaper The Guardian points out, Fico completed his compulsory military service, and ended up obtaining a doctorate in the judicial branch – and working at the Slovak Academy of Sciences. But it was with the fall of the Berlin Wall, the disintegration of Czechoslovakia and the formation of Slovakia as an independent state, in the early 1990s, that he began to make his way in politics. According to the British publication, Fico was "young, persuasive and, most importantly, had no connection to the communist regime that had been overthrown." After a stint in the Democratic Left Party, he ended up founding Smer, linked to social democracy, a party that defended democracy and socialism – however, analysts "quickly" concluded that Fico's ambitions overlapped the party's ideologies. It took seven years in the opposition to 'lead' him to the country's leadership, for the first time in 2006. Since then, Fico has won two more terms. During his journey, he was also the target of major protests, after a journalist and her husband were killed by a hired assassin in 2018. Smer lost strength to other parties that prioritized the fight against corruption, and ended up splitting.

And how did he return to power?

The Covid-19 pandemic devastated the world, but this was the window of opportunity for Fico, who despite being below 10% in voting intentions in those elections, ended up making them 'pay off'. "He became the most prominent politician of a movement against masks and vaccination," analyst Grigorij Mesežnikov explained to the Guardian. The Smer leader was also the target of a criminal charge, for allegedly creating a criminal group and also for abuse of power, but the Slovak attorney general rejected this accusation – and 'gave him' more will and thirst for power. "He is learning from Trump and will say and do whatever it takes, taking from the Left to the Right," Milan Nič, another researcher, told the British newspaper. "He's very skilled," he added.

Skilled, but…

The most divergent positions of the European bloc are not only, however, for being against the use of masks – Fico has adopted some more extremist positions, namely, in relation to Ukraine. In addition to pledging to fight for a halt in military support to Kyiv, he has also threatened to veto any invitation made to Kyiv to join NATO. Bratislava has also been highly critical of sanctions on Moscow in the context of this conflict and has tried to sow division between older, conservative voters in the provinces and those in the capital, with a more educated and progressive population. One of Fico's opponents is the liberal leader Zuzana Čaputová, who has also accused the prime minister of spreading rumors about her. The official was the head of a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) before leading the liberal party, organizations to which the prime minister has made life difficult. Among others, Čaputová has been accused of being a "puppet of the United States". Another of his targets has also been the LGBTQIA+ community.

Inspired by Orbán?

Analysts have seen that Fisco has tried to 'imitate' his neighboring counterpart in Hungary, Viktor Orbán, by trying to impose his power and strengthen ties with Russia. "Viktor Orbán is one of those European politicians who is not afraid to openly defend the interests of Hungary and the Hungarian people", he told Reuters last September. "He puts them first. And that should be the role of an elected politician, to look after the interests of his constituents and his country," he stressed.

Remember the attack

During the attack that left Fico in danger of life, at least four shots were fired, one of which hit the prime minister's stomach, and another a "joint" in the neck. "He was immediately taken to the hospital and then to surgery," explained a government official, stating that the intervention lasted at least three hours.  The shots were fired after a government meeting, and an investigation has already been started by the authorities. The suspect in the attempted assassination of the prime minister has been identified by the local press as Juraj C., a 71-year-old man, resident in Levice, about 80 kilometers from Handlova, where the attack took place. The suspect's identification has not yet been confirmed by the authorities. He could face a life sentence, since, according to the Slovak Penal Code, a crime of premeditated murder is punishable by a prison sentence of "20 to 25 years". However, if the attack "is directed at a protected person", such as a prime minister, the sentence increases to life imprisonment. It was even said that "the doctors fought for his life", due to the serious injuries he suffered. Read Also: "Barbarian" and "vile" act. The reactions to the attack on the Slovak prime minister (Portuguese version)