Slovak premier Robert Fico’s populist left-right government is freeing supporters convicted of corruption and hampering any future graft investigations by abolishing a special anti-corruption police unit. The European Commission, which is in the middle of a changeover, says it is watching developments. 

Any hopes that May’s assassination attempt on the Smer party founder might make him take a break this summer and reconsider any further polarisation of the political scene have been shown to be naive. Instead Fico has blamed the opposition for creating the polarisation and has alleged without evidence that the would-be assassin is an “opposition activist”.

Since Fico returned to his duties at the beginning of July his government has sacked a roster of top public sector cultural figures and has stepped up its drive to capture the police and judicial system.

Last week the government finally confirmed opposition claims that it plans to abolish the NAKA anti-corruption police unit by the end of this month. 

Interior Minister Matúš Šutaj Eštok has criticised NAKA for having too many responsibilities and staff. Its responsibilities and some 700 staff are now set to be distributed among different units, including a re-established Office for the Fight Against Organised Crime (ÚBOK).

The government has accused NAKA of targeting its supporters during the previous rightwing administration. Several members of the unit have already been suspended and put under investigation for allegedly abusing their powers by pursuing Smer officials for graft. Others are facing reassignment to lower ranking jobs and are quitting the force.

Fico’s fourth government, which took office last October, already abolished the Special Prosecutor’s Office in March, which it also accused of acting in a partisan way by chasing officials from Fico’s previous 2012-18 governments. 

The administrative changes are ironic, given that Fico’s previous government had established both NAKA and the Special Prosecutor’s Office  in the first place.

The government has also reformed the Criminal Code to weaken the penalties for corruption and shorten the statute of limitation for prosecution of graft offences. This has already led to the release of several  officials from prison or pre-trial detention and the dropping of investigations against others.

Last week Justice Minister Boris Susko also intervened to spring from prison Dusan Kovacik, a senior anti-corruption prosecutor under the previous Smer government. Susko appealed Kovacik’s conviction to the Supreme Court and Kovacik will now remain at liberty while the court reviews his case. 

Kovacik was sentenced to eight years for accepting a bribe of euro50,000 for arranging the release of Ľubomír Kudlička, the boss of the Takáčov mafia, from pretrial detention. Kovacik also leaked information to the gang about ongoing investigations.   

Opposition parties accuse Kovacik of in effect blocking any corruption investigations during his tenure as special prosecutor. Opposition parties allege that Fico’s previous government captured the police, prosecutors and judicial system, and established a regime where corruption was rampant and unpunished. 

They argue that Fico is now obsessed with protecting his supporters who were convicted or put under investigation for corruption after his party lost the 2020 election (Fico himself was under investigation for a while for running a criminal network). They say he wants to re-establish his party's control of the organs of law and order to prevent any risk of further prosecutions.

Opposition parties have called a series of demonstrations to protest against the government’s moves, leading the ruling coalition to accuse them of ramping up the polarisation of the country that may have led to the assassination attempt.

The European Commission has already forced the government to modify its changes to the Criminal Code and it is now looking into several of the government’s other reforms, notably the abolition of the special prosecutor’s office, which it fears could affect Slovakia’s ability to prevent EU funds from being stolen. 

In a statement last week on the abolition of NAKA seen by Slovak daily Dennik N, the Commission said, “As NAKA is the partner for [EU anti-fraud office] OLAF and for the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, the future of the cooperation of Slovakia with these agencies needs to be clarified”.

The Commission has also expressed concerns about the government’s takeover of the public broadcaster through a special law, and planned legislation targeting NGOs that receive foreign support. 

In its rule of law report in July, the Commission was strongly critical of Slovakia, along with Viktor Orban’s Hungary, which has already had EU funds frozen.

Slovakia’s EU Recovery Funds have been halted while the EU assesses the reforms, but they have not yet been formerly frozen.

The outgoing Commission is not expected to take any decisive action but the new one will have to decide whether to formally freeze Slovakia’s EU funds  and risk cementing Fico’s alliance with Orban. 

Despite speculation, the nominally leftwing Smer has not yet joined Orban’s new radical rightwing Patriots for Europe grouping in the European Parliament. It now appears only a matter of time before Smer accepts its rightful place there among the populist authoritarians.