Do we like Robert Fico?
Our score: 2 out of 10. His government wrote an anti-LGBTQ+ line into the constitution and pushed a law on NGOs, with little real good to set against it.
Robert Fico was born in 1964 into a working-class family and trained as a lawyer. He started in politics in the Communist Party just before the 1989 Velvet Revolution, then founded the centre-left Smer party in 1999. He has been prime minister four times, from 2006, from 2012 to 2018, and again since October 2023, so he's one of the longest-running acts in Slovak politics.
His second term ended in 2018 when he resigned amid mass protests over the murder of an investigative journalist and his fiancée. He has always denied the corruption allegations around him. Since coming back, his government has scrapped the special prosecutor's office for high-level corruption and cut penalties for financial crimes. In 2025 he called a judge's verdict against the central bank governor 'fatal nonsense' and suggested the judge be investigated. A court watchdog warned that kind of talk can look like pressure on the judiciary.
Here's the harm check, starting with LGBTQ+ people. In September 2025 parliament passed Fico's constitutional amendment, which recognises only two sexes and lets only married couples adopt, apart from rare exceptions. He sold it as 'a dam against progressivism'. Amnesty International said it targets LGBTI+ and reproductive rights, and the Council of Europe's Venice Commission warned it could clash with international obligations.
On civil society and the war, the record is no better. His government backed a fast-tracked bill labelling some NGOs as lobbyists, and one lawyer told AP it was 'surveillance'. Fico replied that Slovakia does not accept any Russian laws. At CPAC in 2025 he said Russia had 'serious security reasons' for invading, and in August 2025 the Kyiv Independent said his comments echoed Kremlin talking points. He is also described as 'fiercely opposed to immigration'.
The latest mess started in March 2026. Opposition leader Branislav Gröhling said police were investigating Fico over a complaint about halting emergency electricity supplies to Ukraine. Fico's reply was not reported in TASR's story, and no police statement was quoted in it. It is an allegation brought by the opposition, not a charge. Then came the regional elections in October, which went poorly for his coalition.
The good stuff is thin on the record we could verify. He took Slovakia into the euro zone in 2009, which is a real policy achievement, and he's survived a long career. We found no verified kindness or campaigning for other people at a cost to himself. That's honestly the whole list.