The leader of Slovakia's left-wing populist Smer-SD party Robert Fico said on Wednesday, October 11, he signed a deal to forge a coalition government that includes an ultra-nationalist far-right party.
Fico's party won the parliamentary election in September on pledges to end military help for Ukraine, raising concerns about cracks in Western support for Kyiv.
"We have agreed that we want to form a government together," said Fico of the deal that includes far-right SNS party and Hlas-SD, a breakaway party from Smer. Fico, who had already served as Slovakia's prime minister in the past, will chair the new three-party government, with parties yet to announce how they would fill the ministerial posts.
"Specific names and ministries will be included in the coalition agreement. I will present the list of ministers to the President in a short time," Fico said. Following the election win, Fico said "Slovakia and the people in Slovakia have bigger problems than (dealing with) Ukraine" and called for peace talks as "further killing will not help anyone."
Fico's coalition partners from SNS share his staunch anti-refugee rhetoric and populist leanings. Its chairman Andrej Danko said in July that Russian-occupied territories were not "historically Ukrainian."