Jiří Pehe sees little risk of Orbánisation in Slovakia

Slovakia won't suffer the same fate under the one-party government of Robert Fico as its neighbour Hungary has under Viktor Orbán, journalist Jiří Pehe asserts in the left-leaning daily Právo: "Václav Havel once said that every post-communist country needed two revolutions: first one against communism and then one against post-communism. Slovakian has gone through both - the Velvet Revolution in 1989 and the revolution against Mečiarism. Consequently the country is more modern than Hungary. … Fico also proved himself to be a quite pragmatic during his first term in office [2006 to 2010]. True, he had problems with the media, but he never exhibited any markedly authoritarian tendencies. His government led Slovakia into the Eurozone, avoided the temptation of conducting irresponsible experiments and never lived above its means. Slovakia's clearly pro-European stance was helpful here. Although it is always tempting to abuse an absolute majority Slovakia is not automatically facing the same fate as Hungary."   

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