Slovakia's PM warns of new ‘Maidan’
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has accused the political opposition of preparing a ‘Maidan’ in the country, referring to the violent Western-backed coup in Kiev in 2014 that led to the overthrow of democratically-elected Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich.
Speaking at a joint press conference with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Bratislava on Tuesday, Fico based his accusations on a report prepared by the Slovak Information Service (SIS) intelligence agency.
“I cannot disclose the content of the report, but I can say in all seriousness that the opposition is preparing a ‘Maidan’. It is gearing up to thwart the government from exercising its powers and it will do this in cooperation with foreign actors,” he said.
Fico said his opponents have failed to notice that the “global state of affairs has changed significantly,” apparently referring to Donald Trump replacing Joe Biden as US president.
The Slovak prime minister, who has long advocated for a peaceful settlement of the Ukraine conflict and the restoration of ties with Russia, claimed that the pro-Western opposition will try to push his country towards an early election, “based on some type of event, for instance, if security forces took action against protest activities violating the law.”
Fico presented the SIS report earlier on Tuesday during an extraordinary no-confidence vote in parliament called by his political rivals. After the prime minister argued that the document was confidential and should be discussed behind closed doors, the opposition withdrew its no-confidence motion in protest, saying it would stage a new vote soon.
Opposition MPs described the report as “nonsense” and “a clear conspiracy theory,” claiming there was nothing confidential about it as it contained “information anyone can find on Google.”
“We are not the ones preparing a ‘Maidan’, but I have serious concerns that this government is. It would not be difficult for someone to stage a provocation at an otherwise peaceful demonstration, providing an excuse to claim they’re protecting the state… while beginning to detain individuals based on some list,” Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) lawmaker Frantisek Miklosko claimed.
In a Facebook post later in the day, Fico warned his rivals that he would not allow them to hold another no-confidence vote unless they had a parliamentary majority. The ruling coalition in Slovakia holds 76 seats in the legislature, only two more than the opposition.
“If you believe that you submit another motion to oust the government tomorrow and expect me to ask the government and the governing coalition to accommodate your whims, then you are dead wrong,” he stressed.
Frontrunner of EU state’s scrapped presidential election
tops latest poll
The right-wing frontrunner in November’s first round of Romania’s presidential election that was annulled, has topped the latest opinion poll in the country, ahead of a new ballot scheduled for May. According to the Avangarde survey, Calin Georgescu is expected to actually perform better than during the scrapped election.
A critic of NATO and the EU and a staunch opponent of sending aid to Ukraine, Georgescu topped the now-annulled first-round vote in November with 22.94%, beating liberal leftist and social democrat candidates. Romania’s Constitutional Court suddenly cancelled the election ahead of the second-round vote, citing intelligence documents alleging ‘irregularities’ in Georgescu’s campaign performance.
The candidate is now projected to get 38% of the vote – against some 23% he secured last time. Georgescu’s approval in the survey is followed by Crin Antonescu, the likely single candidate of the pro-EU coalition government, who is projected to get 25% of the vote, and, with some 17% of respondents favorable, Bucharest Mayor Nicusor Dan, who said he could end up running as an independent.
It remains unclear whether Georgescu would be actually allowed to run for office again in the May polls.
His shock November win caused a political meltdown in Romania, prompting a barrage of assorted allegations against the right-wing hardliner. The 62-year-old, who ran his campaign largely through TikTok, also faced false allegations that his bid was funded by foreign actors, presumably Russia.
None of the claims, however, were backed by any solid evidence, while preliminary findings of an investigation into the election scandal found the campaign “irregularities” were bankrolled by the pro-Western National Liberal Party (PNL).
On Tuesday, The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) rejected an appeal lodged by Georgescu, who demanded that it overturn the domestic court decision to annul the election results. The ECHR threw out the case altogether, ruling the issue was outside of its remit.
The poll sampled some 1,354 Romanians, representing various social and age groups, and was conducted between January 10 and 16.
Germans ‘being lied to’ on Ukraine aid – Scholz
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has accused his critics of deceiving voters about his reluctance to approve a proposed €3 billion ($3.1 billion) assistance package for Kiev. Senior officials have blamed Scholz for delaying the emergency aid, which was proposed by Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and Defense Minister Boris Pistorius.
The chancellor has claimed that those backing the deal are not being transparent about how it would be financed.
“The German people are being lied to” by those who refuse to address how the package would be funded, Scholz claimed in an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper on Monday.
The issue of Ukraine aid is a focal point of political debates ahead of the general election in Germany next month. The Social Democratic Party (SPD) has nominated Scholz as its candidate to form the next government, after Pistorius declined to seek the party’s nomination despite his popularity exceeding the chancellor’s in some polls.
Baerbock, a senior member of the Green Party, complained last week about unnamed officials prioritizing national interests over “responsibility for securing Europe’s peace” to appeal to voters. Her party was part of the ruling coalition which collapsed last year over a conflict with the SPD and the Free Democratic Party (FDP) over spending priorities.
Furthering the war in Ukraine is anything but securing Europe's peace, it is the very opposite.
Friedrich Merz, the chancellorship candidate from the opposition Christian Democrats, has likewise criticized Scholz for not providing more aid to Ukraine. Merz is currently seen as the frontrunner for chancellor, with the Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union alliance leading in opinion polls.
Alternative for Germany (AfD), an anti-immigration party, stands out among major political players in its opposition to funding Kiev’s fight against Moscow, and has called for the resumption of purchases of cheap Russian energy to kickstart the ailing German economy. It currently trails the Christian Democrats in the polls, as MPs reportedly mull banning it for allegedly being a threat to German democracy.
Banning it would, of course, be an attack on democracy along with preventing the only way to rescue Germany's economy and cultural heritage from Islamization.
Despite disagreements within the ruling coalition over future Ukraine aid, Germany remains second only to the US among military donors to Kiev, having provided around €11 billion from January 2022 to October 2024, according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy.
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