Slovakia swears in a new cabinet led by a populist ex-premier

(25 Oct 2023)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Bratislava - 25 October 2023
1. Pan right of Presidential Palace
2. Mid of Slovak national flag
3. Wide of police
4. Mid of Slovak and EU flags flying together
5. Pan right of newly elected Prime Minister Robert Fico arriving
6. Mid of cabinet members at ceremony
7. Mid of Fico taking his credential from Slovak President Zuzana Caputova
8. SOUNDBITE (Slovak) Zuzana Caputova, President of Slovakia:
“I welcome your clear assurance in the continuity of the previous government’s approach towards our membership in the European Union and in NATO. The more we can make these organisations stronger and stable, the more the Slovak Republic can profit from them.”
9. Wide of new cabinet members listening to the national anthem
10. Wide of Caputova and the new government leaving ceremony
11. Pan right from new ministers to Caputova and Fico arriving for family photo
12. Wide of new government and Caputova
13. Mid of Caputova and Fico shaking hands and leaving
STORYLINE:
Slovakia’s president on Wednesday swore in a new government led by former populist Prime Minister Robert Fico.
Fico is poised to end the country's military aid for Ukraine as it fights against Russia's invasion.
Fico returned to power and took over as prime minister for the fourth time after his leftist Smer, or Direction, party won Slovakia’s Sept 30 parliamentary election.
The party won 42 seats in the 150-seat Parliament after campaigning on a pro-Russian and anti-American platform.
“I welcome your clear assurance in the continuity of the previous government’s approach towards our membership in the European Union and in NATO. The more we can make these organisations stronger and stable, the more the Slovak Republic can profit from them," President Zuzana Caputova told the new cabinet.
Fico formed a parliamentary majority by signing a coalition government deal with the leftist Hlas, or Voice, party and the ultranationalist Slovak National Party.
Hlas, led by Fico’s former deputy in Smer, Peter Pellegrini, gained 27 seats. Pellegrini parted ways with Fico after the scandal-tainted Smer lost the previous election in 2020.
Pellegrini replaced Fico as prime minister after he was forced to resign following major anti-government street protests resulting from the 2018 killing of journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancée.
The reunion of Fico and Pellegrini was key for the creation of the new government. The third partner, the Slovak National Party, is a clearly pro-Russian group; it won 10 seats in the legislature.
Fico’s victory may mark a dramatic turnaround in the country’s foreign policy and could strain a fragile unity in the European Union and NATO.
He will have his first chance to present his views at a two-day summit of EU leaders in Brussels that opens on Thursday.
Slovakia, a country of 5.5 million people which shares a border with Ukraine, has until now been a staunch supporter of Kyiv since Russia invaded in February last year, donating arms and opening its borders for refugees fleeing the war.
AP video by Bela Szandelszky
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[@tomasklimo6098]

Great Fico's comeback in right time. Best premier of Slovakia.