After the outgoing Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Heger announced his resignation, President Zuzana Čaputová announced on Sunday that she would appoint Ludovít Ódor as his successor. He was previously deputy governor of the Slovak central bank NBS and is to lead a cabinet of civil servants made up of non-party experts until the early elections on 30 September. The bang in Bratislava was preceded last week by the resignations of Agriculture Minister Samuel Vlčan due to a corruption scandal and Foreign Minister Rastislav Káčer. The latter, in particular, came as a surprise.

Stephan Löwenstein

Political correspondent based in Vienna.

  • Follow I follow

Heger had recently tried to save the remnants of his minority government. He offered President Zuzana Čaputová either to fill vacant posts with non-party experts or to resign as head of government herself in order to allow at least those heads of department who are responsible for distributing social and economic aid and supporting Ukraine to continue working. However, Čaputová did not accept this.

Violent turbulence since the 2020 election

After a successful vote of no confidence in December, the Heger government already had only limited powers. The centre-right coalition had previously broken up. The government that took office in 2020, initially under Igor Matovič, the leader of the conservative Olano party, was exposed to severe turbulence from the outset, mainly stemming from the coalition itself. Matovič was constantly engaged in cockfights with his coalition partners. In 2021, Matovič resigned in favor of his then-party colleague Heger, but remained in the cabinet as finance minister. Because the quarrels continued, the liberal SaS went into opposition. Since then, the government no longer has a majority.

This situation is particularly beneficial for the opposition parties that call themselves social democratic. This is the Smer ("Direction") under long-time Prime Minister Robert Fico and the Hlas ("Voice") split off from Smer under Peter Pellegrini, also a former head of government. Both have opposed Slovakia's previous policy of strong military support for Ukraine, including with fighter jets. Fico opposes any arms deliveries. Members of the outgoing government also complain about disinformation campaigns by pro-Russia media and social media platforms.

Since, according to current polls, a future government not led by Fico or Pellegrini seems unlikely, the current turmoil could have a significant impact on foreign policy.