Slovakia could be about to suffer the same fate as Hungary amid reports the European Commission is considering withholding funding earmarked for Bratislava over concerns in Brussels of democratic backsliding.
According to a report by the U.S. media outlet Bloomberg, the EU executive is preparing to launch proceedings against the administration of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico that could see up to €12.8 billion in funding be suspended until the Eastern European member state conforms to Brussels’ expectations.
Citing people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg reported that domestic reforms have raised eyebrows in Brussels, with the European Commission expressing concern about the Fico administration’s intention to reform the country’s criminal code and its plans to shelve the country’s special prosecutor’s office focusing on anti-corruption.
One of the proposals currently being explored in Brussels to keep Slovakia in line is the possibility of demanding the return of €2.7 billion granted to Slovakia in Covid-19 relief funds.
Robert Fico has locked horns with Eurocrats on several occasions following his return to power in October last year. The left-wing nationalist does not agree with Brussels’ policy towards arming and funding Ukraine indefinitely and has voiced his opposition to the controversial EU Migration Pact, which requires all member states to take in their fair share of illegal migrants or face crippling fines.
In April, EU Transparency Commissioner Vera Jourová also expressed her displeasure at the Fico government’s plans to reform the Slovak state broadcaster, RTVS, over fears it has become too partisan and politically imbalanced.
“I will also have a meeting with the culture minister to discuss the plans of the Slovak government regarding public service media. Public service media in all member states have to serve the public,” she said during a visit to Bratislava.
It should be noted, however, that far more radical and aggressive tactics used by the left-liberal coalition government in Poland to reform public broadcasters went unchallenged in Brussels. Not only were dozens of journalists fired overnight, but police officers descended on broadcasters deemed to be too supportive of the former conservative administration and shut them down. The Polish government is now run by former Eurocrat and key Brussels ally Donald Tusk.
One country that Brussels has already made an example of, however, is Hungary. The European Commission withheld €6.3 billion in its first-ever use of the new conditionality mechanism, which gives Eurocrats the ability to freeze funding to member states they believe are not acting in the way they should be.
It could be the beginning of a number of legal cases between Brussels and Bratislava, with Fico, like Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, remaining defiant in his opposition to the EU Migration Pact and both nations firmly on a collision course with the European Commission over its implementation.
