The European Union is considering freezing some EU funds for Slovakia in response to the rule of law backsliding under the incumbent left-right cabinet led by populist Prime Minister Robert Fico, according to media reports.  

Bloomberg wrote on September 8 that the European Commission could freeze part of the €12.8bn allocated for Slovakia from the EU’s Cohesion funds, referring to its sources in the EC. The EC could also “claw back” the €2.7bn from the COVID-19 Reconstruction funds in response to government changes to the criminal code, which included reducing penalties for corruption, as well as changes to the prosecutor system that Brussels fears could make fighting corruption harder and potentially put EU funds at risk.

As part of these changes, the cabinet dismantled the Special Prosecutor Office overseeing high-profile corruption cases in which several officials linked to Fico’s Smer party were caught up in the investigations and which also involved possible misuse of EU funds. The dismantling sparked country-wide protests and a constitutional challenge filed by previous liberal President Zuzana Caputova.

Bloomberg also noted that up to 80% of the public investments in Slovakia come from EU funds, adding that Slovakia would only be the second EU member country after Hungary against which the EU takes such action.

Slovakia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Juraj Blanar slammed Bloomberg for the reporting, saying that the “Slovak republic refuses the spreading of untrue information by Bloomberg agency about the suspension of EU funds for Slovakia.” Blanar’s ministry stated it has no information about EU action from its communication with the EC.

Slovakia’s state broadcaster STVR quoted EC's response to its inquiry regarding the measures in which the EC stated that “only one case” – Hungary –  is addressed in this way and that “at present, we don’t have any other case, we should report on”.

EC’s spokesperson Veronica Favalli added that the EC is ready to take the necessary measures to block the EU funds if needed and that Slovakia met the May 15 milestone regarding the “fight against corruption and strengthening of integrity and independence of the judiciary” […] “at the time of preliminary evaluation”.  

Fico’s cabinet  continued with sweeping staff changes at public institutions last month, which included firings at the country’s key cultural institutions, a staff makeover at STVR, following the cabinet-backed restructuring of the public broadcaster, and dismantling of the elite police unit NAKA, which reportedly affected some 700 policemen.   

Editor-in-Chief of the leading Slovak daily SME Beata Balogova wrote in her commentary on September 10 that “today not even [Hungarian strongman] Viktor Orban would get away with such intervention”, referring to the way  Boris Susko, Minister of Justice, intervened for the release of ex-prosecutor Dusan Kovacik from jail, where he was serving an eight-year sentence for accepting bribes from the mafia and shielding its members from criminal investigations during Fico’s previous stint in power.   

In the latest development, a court ended the criminal prosecution of the interim Chairman of the Parliament Peter Ziga of the centre-left Hlas party, who was indicted by police for bribing a judge of the country’s Supreme Court in 2016. The case is now muted under the new statute of limitations under the criminal code, online news outlet Aktuality.sk wrote on September 10, quoting a confirmation from the spokesperson of the Prosecutor General Office Zuzana Drobova.   

Peter Ziga has denied any wrongdoing, describing the indictment as “political games”, Aktuality.sk noted.