Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico’s national security adviser, who resigned on Saturday over his messages to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, said he feels like a “fool” after reading them again. “When I read those messages today, I feel like a fool. It was a private conversation, let’s be honest, who would be happy if the whole nation were reading their messages? At the very least, I exercised poor judgment,” Miroslav Lajčák, who served as Slovak foreign minister in multiple Fico governments between 2009 and 2020, told Radio Slovakia on Monday evening. In the newly released files, Epstein bantered with Lajčák about women while discussing Lajčák’s meetings with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The exchanges also show Lajčák suggested a meeting between Fico and Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon, which he refuted in the radio session. “This meeting did not happen … nor did I organize it,” Lajčák said. Lajčák denied any wrongdoing but subsequently resigned, saying he wanted to prevent political blowback on Prime Minister Robert Fico. He went on to say that he “does not recall and therefore cannot confirm or deny the authenticity of the texts.” According to Lajčák, Epstein was a well-known figure accepted among high-profile politicians, and he looked at him as a “valuable contact that could open a lot of doors.” “But that does not absolve me of responsibility,” he said. “I showed poor judgement and inappropriate communication. Those messages were nothing more than foolish male egos in action — self-satisfied male banter,” he added, refering to conversation about women. Lajčák added that his communication with Epstein was limited to words, not actions. “There were no girls … the fact that someone is communicating with a sexual predator does not make him a sexual predator,” he said, condemning the crimes that came to light after Epstein’s arrest in 2019. The messages were included in Friday’s release by the U.S. Justice Department of investigative materials related to Epstein. 

Prime Minister Robert Fico’s leftist-populist government has suffered a setback after Slovakia’s top court temporarily suspended controversial legislation that would abolish the country’s whistleblower protection office. “The Constitutional Court’s ruling confirms that the new law is so contentious that it was necessary to suspend its effects. We view today’s decision as a significant milestone in safeguarding the rule of law in Slovakia,” the whistleblower’s protection office told POLITICO in a statement. The decision entered into force on Tuesday. The decision pauses the disputed law — which would otherwise have entered into force on Jan. 1, 2026 — until the court reviews whether it complies with the constitution. Since returning to power in 2023 for a fourth term, Fico’s Smer party has taken steps to dismantle anti-corruption institutions, including abolishing the Special Prosecutor’s Office, which handled high-profile corruption cases, and disbanding NAKA, an elite police unit tasked with fighting organized crime. The ruling coalition has also cracked down on independent media and amended the constitution to grant Slovakia’s national law precedence over EU law in “cultural and ethical matters.” The Fico administration — which bypassed a presidential veto after using a fast-track procedure to push through the bill — is not backing down yet in the whistleblower office dispute. “So far, it is only a decision to suspend the effectiveness … We are convinced that the Constitutional Court will confirm that the law is in order and will enter into force,” the interior ministry said in a statement. The government’s plan is to replace the office with a new institution whose leadership would be politically appointed. This move would cut short the current director’s tenure and weaken protections for whistleblowers. “It was a shock because it hadn’t been discussed, consulted, or even announced in any way beforehand. And in my first reaction I described it as the most blatant political interference in the activities of an independent state institution that I can imagine,” Zuzana Dlugošová, the head of the whistleblower’s protection office, told POLITICO. She warned that with protections weakened, whistleblowers will be “less willing to help the state uncover violations of EU law and fraud involving European funds, which are significant in Slovakia.” POLITICAL PAYBACK NGOs and the political opposition said they view the move as political payback from Interior Minister Matúš Šutaj Eštok, whose ministry had been fined by the whistleblower office for suspending and reassigning elite police officers under whistleblower protection without the office’s consent. The suspended officers had been investigating corruption among senior Slovak officials. The Interior Ministry told POLITICO in a statement that “the opposition’s claims of ‘revenge’ are false and have no factual basis.” “The change is not personal, but institutional. It is a systemic solution to long-standing issues that have arisen in the practical application of the current law, as confirmed by several court rulings,” the ministry said, adding that the proposed changes are consistent with the EU’s whistleblower protection directive. The European Commission, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office and several experts contacted by POLITICO disagree with ministry’s assessment. Transparency International Slovakia Director, Michal Pisko, said that the decision to ax the office “was a power move against an independent institution with which the Ministry of the Interior has long been in conflict.” Political scientist Radoslav Štefančík from the University of Economics in Bratislava said: “This office was one of the few that still operated independently of government power. The new office will be under government control and, as a result, ineffective. The main beneficiaries will be those who previously benefited from the criminal code reform: fraudsters and thieves, regardless of which political party they belong to. “This isn’t just about a single office. It concerns the entire system of checks on government power by independent institutions. It reinforces a system in which 99 percent of people must abide by the law, while a chosen few believe they stand above it,” he added. In a statement to POLITICO, the European Commission said it “regrets that the Slovak Parliament did not take the opportunity for thorough consultation and recalls that it had shared its concerns regarding several provisions of the law.” “As a reminder: We had communicated our strong concerns about several elements of this law in relation to EU law … This regards notably the dissolution of the existing Whistleblower Protection Office and the resulting early termination of the mandate of the Head of Office,” the Commission said, adding that it will review the law and decide on next steps. But experts point out that the Commission often moves slowly, allowing EU member countries to flout the rules with impunity. “Can the Commission recognize that it should act before it becomes too late? Because when it becomes too late, and the Commission starts the infringement process a year, a six months from now, who cares? It’s a done deal. The dust has settled,” said Vigjilenca Abazi, director of the European Whistleblowing Institute. “From experience, the European Commission usually ends up softening its stance and letting things slide. With all due cynicism, I think Fico will end up winning again,” Michal Vašečka, a political scientist at the Bratislava Policy Institute, said.

Slovakia’s populist Prime Minister Robert Fico announced that U.S. President Donald Trump has invited him to America to sign a nuclear power deal — and attend the FIFA World Cup next summer. “It is an honor for me that yesterday the special envoy of U.S. President D. Trump handed me a written invitation to visit the United States and meet with him,” Fico said in a social media post on Monday. “Together, we aim to support the signing of an intergovernmental agreement between the Slovak Republic and the United States on cooperation in nuclear energy and to exchange views on the most pressing global issues,” he added. “The timeframe of my visit will coincide with the celebrations of the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence and the hosting of the FIFA World Cup.” The invitation comes on the heels of the Dec. 4 publication of the U.S. National Security Strategy, which caused an uproar in Europe for suggesting that the Trump administration will support ideologically aligned European patriotic parties, such as Fico’s leftist-populist and nationalist Smer. Late last week, U.S. Ambassador to France Charles Kushner met with senior figures from that country’s far-right opposition National Rally, while U.S. Under Secretary of State Sarah Rogers met with opposition far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party politician Markus Frohnmaier in Washington. The letter from Trump, dated Dec. 11, was given to Fico by U.S. Deputy Energy Secretary James Danly, who was in Bratislava this week. “Our relationship means a great deal to me and reflects the strength of the tremendous bond between the United States of America and Slovakia. Our countries have never been closer. I am confident that, by continuing to work together, we will achieve even greater things — including formalizing our civil nuclear cooperation,” Trump wrote in the letter. Washington and Bratislava are preparing to sign a nuclear power deal that will formally tap Westinghouse, the major American nuclear power company, to build a new nuclear reactor in western Slovakia, with costs estimated at €13 billion to €15 billion. The decision was announced earlier in July and drew criticism from the Slovak opposition after Fico’s government bypassed the tender process to award what is the largest investment project in Slovakia’s history. Slovakia faces a football playoff in March against Kosovo, and then a potential final qualifier against Turkey or Romania in order to reach the 2026 Men’s World Cup in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

Prime Minister Robert Fico’s leftist-populist ruling coalition voted on Tuesday to abolish an office that protects people who report corruption in a further crackdown on the rule of law in Slovakia. The draft bill — passed via a fast-track procedure on International Anti-Corruption Day — shuts down the country’s Whistleblower Protection Office, which was created in 2021 under the EU’s Whistleblower Protection Directive. The shuttered office will be replaced by a new institution whose leadership will be appointed by the government. Critics and opposition parties say the change will strip various protections from whistleblowers. The European Public Prosecutor’s Office warned last month that restricting protection for whistleblowers “seriously limits detection, reporting, and investigation, particularly of corruption.” The Slovak decision, which drew 78 votes in the 150-seat parliament, is expected to spark tensions with the European Commission. The EU executive noted last month that “several elements of this law raise serious concerns in relation to EU law.” “We regret that MPs did not heed the warnings of dozens of experts and international organizations, including the European Commission and the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, which drew attention to the negative impacts of the new law,” the Slovak whistleblower office said in a post on Facebook. “The level of protection, as well as public trust in the whistleblower protection system that we have painstakingly built at the office over the past years, will be significantly weakened by this law,” it added. NGOs and the political opposition said they view the move as political payback from Interior Minister Matúš Šutaj Eštok, whose ministry had been fined by the whistleblower office for suspending elite police officers under whistleblower protection without first notifying the office. The suspended officers had been investigating corruption among senior Slovak officials. Slovakia’s Interior Ministry told POLITICO in a statement that “the opposition’s claims of ‘revenge’ are false and have no factual basis.” “The change [with the office] is not personal, but institutional. It is a systemic solution to long-standing issues that have arisen in the practical application of the current law, as confirmed by several court rulings,” the ministry said, adding that the changes are consistent with the EU’s whistleblower protection directive. To become law, the legislation still needs approval from President Peter Pellegrini, who has signaled he might veto it. In that case it could be enacted by the parliament in a repeat vote. Since returning to power in 2023 for a fourth term, Fico’s Smer party has taken steps to dismantle anti-corruption institutions, including abolishing the Office of the Special Prosecutor, which had handled high-profile corruption cases, and disbanding NAKA, the elite police unit tasked with fighting organized crime. The European Commission did not immediately respond to POLITICO’s request for comment.

Slovakia’s transfer of MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine was not a criminal offense, the Bratislava prosecutor’s office said Monday. Slovakia donated its entire fleet of Soviet-era MiG-29 fighters and two anti-aircraft systems to Ukraine in the spring of 2023, making it the first country to send warplanes to Kyiv after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s all-out invasion in February 2022. The current defense ministry — in Prime Minister Robert Fico’s government, which has maintained warm ties with Russia despite its ongoing assault — last June lodged a criminal complaint against former Prime Minister Eduard Heger and his Defense Minister Jaroslav Naď, who had taken the fighter jets decision. Both pushed back against the ministry’s allegations that they had committed sabotage, abuse of power and breach of duty in the management of public property. The Bratislava investigator halted the criminal prosecution on Oct. 30 “because it was sufficiently established that the act in question does not constitute a criminal offense and there is no reason to refer the case further,” a spokesperson for the prosecutor’s office told POLITICO. The probe concluded that the donation of military equipment to Ukraine hadn’t caused any harm to Slovakia, as defined by the country’s Criminal Code, the spokesperson said. “Nor was it proven that members of the government acted with the intent to obtain an unlawful benefit for themselves or others, or that they exercised their authority in a manner contrary to the law or exceeded their powers,” she added. In a post on Facebook, Naď said: “It has been confirmed what I have repeatedly said: that the government of Eduard Heger, with me as Minister of Defense, acted not only morally correctly but also in the national interest of the Slovak Republic and fully in accordance with applicable laws and the constitution in connection with the donation of the MiG-29 aircraft.” Naď added that he expects an apology from Fico’s government.

Slovak police on Thursday said the new amendment to a traffic law that sets a maximum permitted speed on sidewalks in urban areas does not apply to pedestrians. Several local and international media, including POLITICO, earlier reported that the law — which sets a limit of 6 kilometers per hour — will apply to pedestrians as well. “I must clarify that this is not true,” police Vice President Rastislav Polakovič told Slovak media. “The rule is intended for people using roller skates, scooters, skateboards, skis, or similar sports equipment, as well as cyclists up to 10 years old, including their escorts. The measurements should focus on these groups.” The initial announcement sparked a wave of amusement and confusion on social media, with some internet users wondering whether running to catch a bus could get them fined. The legislation that was updated by the new amendment applies to various sidewalk users. The measure, which will enter into force on Jan. 1, 2026, was introduced to avoid collisions on the sidewalks. “The main goal is to increase safety on sidewalks in light of the increasing number of collisions with scooter riders,” said the author of the amendment, Ľubomír Vážny of the leftist-populist Smer party of Prime Minister Robert Fico, which is part of the ruling coalition. The change drew backlash from the opposition, NGOs and political scientists. “In the Czech Republic, this issue is addressed by banning scooters and e-bikes on sidewalks, while the Slovak approach has led to a rather bizarre piece of legislation,” political scientist Lubomír Kopeček at the Masaryk University in Brno told POLITICO. The cyclist advocacy group Cyklokoalícia (Cycling Coalition) said the legislation is problematic because it pushes children under the age of 10 — who are now allowed to cycle on pavements — into the road.

You can only walk 6 kilometers per hour if you want to follow the law in Slovakia. The Slovak parliament Tuesday afternoon adopted an amendment to the traffic law that sets a maximum permitted speed on sidewalks in urban areas at 6 kph. The limit applies to pedestrians, cyclists, skaters, and scooter and e-scooter riders — all of who are allowed on sidewalks — and aims to avoid frequent collisions. “The main goal is to increase safety on sidewalks in light of the increasing number of collisions with scooter riders,” said the author of the amendment, Ľubomír Vážny of the leftist-populist Smer party of Prime Minister Robert Fico, which is part of the ruling coalition. The amendment will be useful in proving violations, the lawmaker said, “especially in cases where it’s necessary to objectively determine whether they were moving faster than what’s considered an appropriate speed in areas meant primarily for pedestrians.” Although the law will come into force Jan. 1, 2026, proponents haven’t publicly spelled out how they plan to enforce it. The average walking speed typically ranges between 4 to 5 kph. However, the British Heart Foundation reports that a pace of 6.4 kilometers per hour is considered moderate for someone with excellent fitness. The opposition criticized the change, and even the Slovak Interior Ministry said it would be more appropriate to prohibit e-scooters from the sidewalks than impose a general speed limit. Martin Pekár of the opposition liberal party Progressive Slovakia said pedestrians face danger from cars, not cyclists or scooters, and that the amendment penalizes sustainable transport. “If we want fewer collisions, we need more safe bike lanes, not absurd limits that are physically impossible to follow,” Pekár said. “At the mentioned speed, a cyclist can hardly keep their balance,” he added. The amendment has sparked a wave of amusement on social media, with some wondering whether running to catch a bus could get them fined.

A Slovak court on Tuesday sentenced Juraj Cintula, a 72-year-old poet and activist, to 21 years in prison for terrorism after he shot Prime Minister Robert Fico.  Cintula’s attorney told journalists after the trial that they will appeal the verdict to the Slovak Supreme Court. In May 2024, Cintula joined a gathering of Fico supporters before firing five shots at the Slovak prime minister with a pistol from close range. Fico survived the attack after emergency surgery. In a message after the shooting, he publicly forgave the attacker and blamed the Slovak opposition for fueling the political climate that led to the attack. Cintula reportedly told police he didn’t intend to kill Fico, but only to injure him so he could no longer serve as the country’s leader. Cintula disagreed on Fico’s Ukraine policy, among other political issues.  He was initially charged with attempted murder, but prosecutors later upgraded the charge to terrorism. He faced 25 years behind bars, but received a shorter sentence due to his age. Fico did not attend the trial himself and was represented by his attorney.

Slovakia’s parliament amended its constitution Friday to state that all citizens are either male or female, limit adoption to married heterosexual couples and ban surrogacy. Several human rights organizations, including Amnesty International and the Venice Commission, have raised concerns — particularly over an article in the amendment that grants Slovakia’s national law precedence over EU law in “cultural and ethical matters.” “In fundamental key value questions, national law must take precedence and have priority over international agreements to which the Slovak Republic is bound. That’s common sense,” said Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico at a press conference Thursday. Amnesty International said, it’s “a dark day for Slovakia” in a press release. European Democracy and Justice Commissioner Michael McGrath said in January, when the proposal to amend the constitution was announced, that “the primacy of EU law … is nonnegotiable.” Since Fico returned to power in October 2023, Slovakia has cracked down on independent media and judiciary, along with LGBTQ+ and artists’ rights, following an “illiberal” playbook sketched out by Hungary. The controversial amendment, which will come into force in November, was surprisingly approved by a narrow margin. The government coalition, which initially lacked support to pass the change, gained 13 votes from the opposition conservative Christian Democrats and conservative-populist Movement Slovakia. The European Commission did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

First Greece. Now Slovakia.  Slovak officials face allegations of having used European funds to build fake guesthouses that only privileged insiders can stay in.  On paper, the guesthouses were intended to support rural tourism. In reality some have served as luxury villas for officials and their friends — with some even living in them permanently.  The so-called Hacienda case has been in the Slovak spotlight for months, with the opposition calling for answers and accountability and the ruling party trying to ignore it.   At the center of it all sits the national Agricultural Payment Agency (PPA), an official body under the Ministry of Agriculture responsible for distributing payments under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), which accounts for a third of the European Union budget. The equivalent agency in Greece was the vehicle for a fraud scandal this year that forced several top officials to resign and resulted in a €400 million EU fine.  Zuzana Šubová, who headed the PPA’s anti-corruption department for several months during Eduard Heger’s 2021-2023 government, is currently one of the agency’s leading critics. “From the very start of our work, we uncovered fatal systemic failures and a deeply corrupt and opaque environment,” Šubová told POLITICO. The agency, she added, had relied on employees hiding evidence of wrongdoing ever since it was founded in 2003.  “This system, run through these powerful staff networks, which I call an organized criminal group, lasted 20 years, and no one managed to break it. It was our department, under my leadership, that finally did,” she said.  Šubová left the agency amid controversy after she failed to win a tender to keep her job, saying in a Facebook post at the time that the contest had been rigged in order to remove her. She now chairs the Pirate Party — Slovakia, an extra-parliamentary opposition group.   “We simply need to shut the whole thing down and start from scratch — create a clean, transparent agency,” she said.  Michal Šimečka the liberal Progressive Slovakia, has alleged that tens of millions of euros intended to help people in Slovakia “were misused by Robert Fico’s government and his oligarchs.” | Jakub Gavlak/EPA In a statement to POLITICO, the PPA objected to Šubová’s remarks and said it was taking legal action “to protect its good name.”  “The PPA views the ongoing efforts by a non-parliamentary party together with Ms. Šubová — concerning calls for proposals and projects from over 10 years ago — as an insult to the hundreds of colleagues who work daily to develop Slovak agriculture and ensure the country’s food self-sufficiency,” the PPA said.  A former senior official at the agriculture ministry, who spoke to POLITICO on condition of anonymity, said however that the PPA was “rotten” and “nothing other than a bank for oligarchs.”  THE HACIENDA CASE  Nitrianske Hrnčiarovce, a small town in western Slovakia with around 2,000 inhabitants, is home to an opulent villa that cost European taxpayers €550,000. But booking a stay here requires extra steps: You won’t find it on booking.com or Airbnb, and you can only make a reservation via a form on the villa’s own website. Journalists from the Slovak news outlet 360sk tried and failed to make a reservation. The property is secured behind a locked gate.  Meanwhile, in the southwestern Slovak village of Vrčún, a house that received €220,000 in EU funds to be turned into a tourism facility has instead served as a family residence for the past five years.  In another case, a senior PPA official used EU funds to help their daughter build a family residence, according to an anti-corruption foundation. A whistleblower, who says he was fired for raising the alarm on that case, recently spoke out in Slovak media. The PPA said in response that the whistleblower had retired and his contract couldn’t be extended due to budget cuts.  “The Agricultural Payment Agency strongly refutes several false claims made by a former employee. With these statements, the individual not only misleads the public but also damages the good reputation of the PPA,” the agency said in a statement.  These are just some examples of guesthouses or buildings awarded subsidies intended for rural tourism under dubious circumstances from 2015 to 2016 under Prime Minister Robert Fico’s second government. Hacienda is a political hot-button issue. Michal Šimečka, leader of Slovakia’s largest opposition party, the liberal Progressive Slovakia, has alleged that tens of millions of euros intended to help people in Slovakia “were misused by Fico’s government and his oligarchs.” Freedom and Solidarity (SaS), another opposition party, has compiled a list of all the guesthouses in question. The properties share a common pattern: difficult to locate, barely any online presence, challenging to book, gated off, or serving as private residences. Yet according to the rules, recipients of EU subsidies are required to keep such businesses running and open to the public for at least five years after getting the money.  Moreover, several of the projects are connected to allies of Fico’s ruling Smer (Direction) party. The former senior Slovak official cited above told POLITICO he had encountered several corruption cases during his time at the institution and had filed fraud reports.  He and his colleagues were pushed to leave their jobs by mutual agreement after the department was moved to a city far from where they lived, the official said. He no longer has any information on what happened with the cases he flagged.  “We were already aware of the issues surrounding the haciendas back in 2020 and sounded the alarm. I believe that’s part of the reason we were forced to leave the ministry,” he said, adding that while many of these issues had been reported in the media, the authorities had ignored the matter.  LACK OF TRANSPARENCY  Over the years, the PPA has been repeatedly investigated by both local and European authorities.  In March the national Supreme Audit Office found that while the PPA had formally adopted anti-corruption measures, their implementation was “hampered by personnel and professional limits, weak control mechanisms and a low level of transparency.”   Last year, the EU’s OLAF anti-fraud office closed the last of six investigations into the Dobytkár (Stock Breeder) case, one of the largest corruption scandals in Slovakia’s history. The case came to light in connection with the 2018 murder of investigative journalist Ján Kuciak, who had been working on a story related to agricultural fraud. In its final probe, OLAF found that farmers had paid around €10 million in bribes to Slovak officials to secure illegitimate access to EU rural development funds distributed under the CAP. OLAF, which has no prosecutorial powers, recommended that the money be recovered and reported specific criminal acts by people involved in the scam to the Slovak authorities.  A separate Dobytkár investigation found evidence of fraud in Slovakia and resulted in criminal charges. Several individuals now on trial previously held senior positions at the PPA, including former director Juraj Kožuch. Like others in the case he stands accused of accepting bribes for approving subsidies and laundering the illicit proceeds. Kožuch, who has been released on bail, denies the charges.  Back in 2020 the European Commission froze 25 percent of reimbursements to the PPA over earlier fraud issues, demanding an external audit, a management overhaul and improved transparency. Although the agency later regained its accreditation, Šubová argues these reforms were only implemented on paper, not in practice, echoing the assessment of Slovakia’s Supreme Audit Office.  Tomáš Zdechovský, a Czech member of the European Parliament who led a Committee on Budgetary Control mission to Bratislava in May and spent months gathering evidence on suspicious cases. | Thierry Monasse/Getty Images Asked for comment, the European Commission said the PPA had been the subject of several audits over the past five years. “Those audits identified deficiencies in the proper functioning of its CAP governance systems. Therefore, DG AGRI applied financial corrections for the financial years 2019 to 2021 to protect the Union’s financial interests. DG AGRI also asked the Slovak authorities to address the root causes of those deficiencies and continues to follow the situation closely,” it said in a statement.  EUROPEAN INTEREST  Tomáš Zdechovský, a Czech member of the European Parliament who led a Committee on Budgetary Control mission to Bratislava in May and spent months gathering evidence on suspicious cases, said the embezzlement of EU funds in Slovakia was “systematic.”  “We’ve collected over 300 examples from Slovakia that show how, over the past 10 years, EU money has been consistently funneled to certain groups of people. These groups inflate the prices of all the contracts to enrich themselves,” the conservative lawmaker said, adding he had reported those 300 cases to the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), OLAF and the European Commission.  “They draw the funds not for public benefit, but for private use. Like renovating their own homes or buying trucks and other things that have nothing to do with what the money was meant for,” Zdechovský said.  The PPA responded that it has “established control mechanisms” and that the right of every current or former employee to report corruption “is in no way restricted and can be exercised with full confidence.”  “PPA guarantees that any beneficiary who does not comply with the conditions of any project will be obliged to return the financial resources,” the agency added.    EPPO, which spearheaded the probe into the Greek farm fraud, said it was “in the process of verifying numerous allegations with a view to determine if it can exercise its competence in these cases under the applicable legal framework.” It added that it was “still too soon to share any more information.”  EPPO’s prosecutor for Slovakia, Juraj Novocký, told the Denník N daily paper last month that the office has been investigating dozens of cases related to the PPA and that in some cases, criminal prosecutions are already underway. “In specific cases, charges have already been brought against certain individuals. I firmly believe that we will be able to review and investigate the package of several dozen cases we received within a reasonable timeframe, and once we have our findings, we will certainly inform the public,” Novocký said. WHAT DOES THE GOVERNMENT SAY?  Fico’s government, faced with accusations from the opposition and the media, has attempted to downplay the saga.  Agriculture Minister Richard Takáč has called the Hacienda case a “made-up scandal” and insisted that all internal controls at the PPA are working properly. He accused the opposition of trying to topple the government and harm Slovakia’s image in a way that risks depriving it of access to EU funds.  Fico, now serving his fourth term as prime minister, has called Zdechovský, the Czech MEP, “a hired killer doing dirty opposition work.” He denied that his government was corrupt, and has blocked an opposition attempt to hold an extraordinary session of parliament to debate the matter.  Local journalists reporting on the scandal complain that the government won’t take their findings seriously.  Robert Fico, now serving his fourth term as prime minister, has called Tomáš Zdechovský, the Czech MEP, “a hired killer doing dirty opposition work.” | Pool Photo by Vladimir Smirnov via EPA “You can’t shake off the feeling that things aren’t being properly investigated. The problem lies in the leadership heading key departments, who remain in high-level positions [at the PPA],” said Xenia Makarová from the Zastavme korupciu (Let’s Stop Corruption) NGO.  According to Makarová, people who follow the rules and work to expose shady practices are systematically removed through internal restructuring, keeping the wheels of grift oiled.  “Meanwhile, the minister, and also other members of the government and parliament, attack those who are uncovering these scandals, particularly journalists,” she added.  Attacks against journalists and attempts to control independent media have sparked concern in Brussels over democratic backsliding in Slovakia.  Since Fico returned to power in October 2023 his ruling coalition has taken a leaf out of Hungarian premier Viktor Orbán’s illiberal playbook. It has abolished the special prosecutor’s office and disbanded the national crime agency atop the police force — both of which had been at the forefront of major corruption investigations and previously handled cases linked to officials from Fico’s ruling Smer party.  The agriculture ministry did not respond to a request for a comment.