1. Robert Fico previously served as prime minister from 2006 to 2010 and from 2012 to 2018.
102 Facts About Robert Fico
1. 2.
In 2013, Robert Fico declared his candidacy for the 2014 presidential election.
3.
Robert Fico lost the election to his political rival Andrej Kiska in the second round of voting on 29 March 2014.
4.
In March 2018, owing to the political crisis following the murder of Jan Kuciak, Robert Fico delivered his resignation to Kiska, who then charged Deputy Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini with the formation of a new government.
5.
Robert Fico's government has stopped military aid to Ukraine, moved to take greater control of the media, and abolished the Special Prosecutor's Office that dealt with corruption, which sparked mass protests.
6.
On 15 May 2024, Robert Fico was hospitalized after an attempted assassination by an ex-admirer.
7.
Robert Fico was born on 15 September 1964 in the town of Topolcany, northwestern Nitra Region.
8.
Robert Fico's father, Ludovit Fico, was a forklift operator, and his mother, Emilie Ficova, worked in a shoe store.
9.
Robert Fico's brother Ladislav is a construction entrepreneur, and his sister Lucia Chabadova, who is fourteen years younger, is a prosecutor.
10.
Robert Fico grew up and lived with his family in the village of Hrusovany, until the age of six, when they moved to the nearby town of Topolcany.
11.
Robert Fico has described his childhood ambitions as wanting to become either a politician, a sports reporter, or an archaeologist.
12.
Robert Fico later worked for the Institute of State and Law of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, as well as with the Justice Ministry until 1992.
13.
Robert Fico joined the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia in 1986, having applied in 1984.
14.
Robert Fico was first elected as member of parliament in 1992.
15.
From 1994 to 2000 Robert Fico represented Slovakia as its legal counsel at the European Court of Human Rights but lost all 14 cases which he handled.
16.
Later in 1998, Robert Fico ran for the post of general prosecutor; his party endorsed another candidate instead, arguing that Robert Fico was too young.
17.
Almost immediately after leaving SDL, the group founded Direction, which Robert Fico first labelled a party of the third way, with himself as leader.
18.
Robert Fico established himself as an opposition politician criticizing the unpopular reforms of the right-wing government of Mikulas Dzurinda.
19.
Slovak media sources, such as Sme, carried the news about the recording in great detail; Robert Fico dismissed it as a forgery.
20.
Robert Fico said he "respects the election result", and expressed his desire to lead a resolute opposition after his narrow loss.
21.
Robert Fico initially sought to form a national unity government with SDKU or KDH.
22.
On 18 December 2013, Robert Fico officially announced his candidacy for the upcoming 2014 presidential election.
23.
Robert Fico's campaign ran under the motto "Ready for Slovakia".
24.
Robert Fico was defeated by the independent candidate Andrej Kiska, whose support from the Slovak right wing led him to victory by a wide margin in the second round of voting on 29 March 2014.
25.
Robert Fico's party won the 2016 parliamentary elections, amassing a plurality of seats; it failed to win a majority.
26.
Robert Fico was given the first opportunity by the president to form a stable coalition.
27.
On 14 March 2018, Robert Fico publicly stated that he was ready to tender his resignation as prime minister in order to avoid a snap election, as well as to "solve the political crisis" involving the murder of investigative journalist Jan Kuciak.
28.
In that meeting, Robert Fico laid out a number of specific conditions that needed to be met by the president in order for him to resign.
29.
Robert Fico stated that he already had a candidate in mind.
30.
Robert Fico spent a number of years after his 2018 resignation in the political wilderness.
31.
In 2022 and 2023, Robert Fico was a loud critic of the Von der Leyen Commission and her foreign and military policies in relation to Russian invasion of Ukraine.
32.
Robert Fico expressed disagreements with the European Commission in questions of immigration.
33.
Robert Fico attended a two-day European Union summit that began the next day.
34.
In 2023, Robert Fico referred to adoption by same-sex couples as a perversion, stated that he would never support same-sex marriage.
35.
Robert Fico said that "gender ideology in schools is unacceptable".
36.
Robert Fico's government has moved to take greater control of the media.
37.
On 20 January 2025, Robert Fico meets with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and supported Turkey's accession to the European Union.
38.
Robert Fico traveled to Russia on 22 December 2024 to meet with Vladimir Putin to discuss primarily the transfer of Russian gas to Slovakia, becoming the third Western leader to do so since the war started.
39.
The Slovak press and the opposition criticised Robert Fico for staying at a luxury hotel in Vietnam during his trip abroad.
40.
Robert Fico said he had only used the hotel for an official meeting, which the hotel confirmed.
41.
Robert Fico's ruling coalition passed a law that shut down the Special Prosecutor's Office, which had dealt with serious corruption.
42.
In 2024, Robert Fico's coalition passed an Amendment to the Criminal Code.
43.
Robert Fico was reportedly in a "life-threatening" condition following the attack, having suffered wounds to his stomach, arms, and legs but was stabilized following emergency surgery, and was expected to recover according to deputy prime minister Tomas Taraba.
44.
On 5 June 2024, Robert Fico made his first comments on the attack, saying that he forgave the attacker as he is only the "messenger of evil" of the opposition.
45.
Senior politicians from Robert Fico's ruling coalition blamed independent media and the opposition for the assassination attempt, alleging that they influenced the shooter.
46.
Robert Fico had protested Ukraine closing the brotherhood pipeline and attempted to pressure the Ukrainian government into continuing the transit of Russian gas to Slovakia, by stating he would block energy supply to Ukraine.
47.
Robert Fico said the protest organisers and the opposition were colluding with a group of foreigners to bring about a coup in Slovakia.
48.
Robert Fico said the group would occupy government buildings, block roads, organise a nationwide strike and provoke clashes with police forces as part of their plan.
49.
Robert Fico originally advocated the third way, at the same time but his views gradually evolved.
50.
Robert Fico is committed to the left and patriotism, on the basis of which he renamed the Smer party to the Slovak Social Democracy.
51.
Robert Fico is critical of the Western model of the left, which he calls "the Brussels left".
52.
Robert Fico has been compared to right-wing European leaders such as Viktor Orban.
53.
Robert Fico is a member of the Slovak Matica, which he supports, and Slovak Union of Anti-Fascist Fighters.
54.
Robert Fico's government has moved to take greater control of the media.
55.
In 2023, Robert Fico's government cut off communication with four domestic media outlets, calling them "hostile" and "not objective enough".
56.
At the start of his second term as prime minister in 2012, Robert Fico introduced a new Labour Code, which granted entitlement to a lay-off notice period, as well as severance pay, reduced overtime, making layoffs more expensive for employers, shorter temporary work contracts, and more power for trade unions.
57.
One of the few modifications Robert Fico's government implemented was a slight modification to the unusual flat tax system introduced by the previous government, in a way that slightly decreased or eradicated a tax-free part of income for higher income earners.
58.
In 2010, Robert Fico faced large-scale protests and a blockade of major cities by truckers upset about what they considered to be badly implemented tolls on the highways.
59.
Robert Fico initially refused to speak with representatives of the truckers, saying he would not "be blackmailed".
60.
Robert Fico said he would change the law to curb "the abuse of economic power by some retail chains".
61.
Robert Fico has been in favor of closer relations with China.
62.
Robert Fico's government voted against European Union tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles in 2024.
63.
Robert Fico visited China in 2024, where he called for expanded trade and invested cooperation and praised China's peace plans for Ukraine.
64.
Robert Fico subsequently condemned the use of violence but said that the protests were an internal affair in Ukraine.
65.
Robert Fico stated that the UK would not be allowed to make EU workers "second-class citizens" while still receiving the benefits of the EU single market.
66.
In May 2016, Robert Fico stated that Slovakia would not accept "one single Muslim" migrant into the country, weeks before the country was scheduled to take over the Presidency of the Council of the EU.
67.
Robert Fico referred to "Slavonic solidarity", which was a central theme of the Slovak National Awakening in the 1850s.
68.
Robert Fico accused Georgia of "provoking Russia" in 2008 when Russia invaded Georgia.
69.
In June 2008, The Slovak Spectator published a piece which summarized his foreign policy in this way: Compensating for his lack of close political allies within the EU, the former Czech Social Democratic Party leader Jiri Paroubek being a notable exception, Robert Fico sought to strengthen relations with several non-EU countries such as Serbia and Russia.
70.
Under his premiership, the Slovak foreign ministry rejected the March 2014 Crimean status referendum, which incorporated Crimea into Russia; Robert Fico himself remained silent on the issue.
71.
Robert Fico condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022; he opposed European sanctions against Russia for the invasion, arguing that the sanctions help Russian autarky and only harm the Russian population and European population rather than the regime.
72.
Robert Fico invited the Russian diplomat Igor Bratchikov to speak at the celebration of the Slovak National Uprising on 29 August 2022.
73.
In 2023, Robert Fico said that the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation violated international law but that Ukraine re-taking Crimea would not solve the Russo-Ukrainian War.
74.
Robert Fico met with Russian president Vladimir Putin in December 2024 in Moscow to discuss primarily the transfer of Russian gas to Slovakia.
75.
Robert Fico vowed to block Ukraine from joining NATO and argued that the accession of Ukraine to the EU by 2025 was unrealistic.
76.
Robert Fico said that selling or sending Ukraine weapons and military equipment to defend itself has only encouraged more violence.
77.
Robert Fico said that efforts should instead focus on reaching a ceasefire and pushing Ukraine and Russia toward peace talks.
78.
In May 2023, Robert Fico praised the peace plans put forward by the Holy See, Brazil and China.
79.
In October 2023, after his re-election, Robert Fico announced Slovakia would not sell or send any more military equipment to Ukraine but would continue to help Ukraine in a humanitarian way and would try to start peace talks.
80.
Former Minister of Defence Robert Fico Kalinak has launched a company that started to sell ammunition to Ukraine.
81.
In January 2024 Robert Fico said that "Ukraine is not an independent and sovereign country" and said the only way to end Russia's invasion is for Ukraine to give up some of its land to the invaders.
82.
Robert Fico has been accused of spreading pro-Russian disinformation about the Ukrainian war, for example repeating Kremlin claims that the Donbas War began when "Ukrainian Nazis and fascists started murdering the Russian population of Donbas".
83.
In May 2008, Robert Fico labelled Hungary a potential threat during a speech commemorating the 161st anniversary of the day that Slovaks demanded national equality with other nations within the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy.
84.
Robert Fico used the anniversary to openly criticise the political situation in Hungary and warn about the influence it might have on Slovakia.
85.
In 2022, Robert Fico welcomed Orban's re-election in Hungary, praising his nationalistic approach and stance on the Russo-Ukrainian war.
86.
Robert Fico was a vocal opponent of the one-time planned construction of new US anti-ballistic missile and radar systems in military bases in neighbouring Czech Republic and Poland, and one of his first steps upon taking office was withdrawing Slovak troops from Iraq.
87.
In November 2013, Robert Fico visited the US president Barack Obama in Washington, DC, where they spoke about the US-Slovak partnership, which Robert Fico's spokesperson said is "based on shared democratic values and principles," after which he affirmed the strategic partnership between the two countries.
88.
In February 2025, Robert Fico was confirmed as a speaker at the 2025 Conservative Political Action Conference.
89.
Robert Fico said that president Trump is doing a great service to Europe by bringing the truth.
90.
In 2009, Robert Fico repeatedly described the Slovak press as a "new opposition force" that was biased and was harming national and state interests.
91.
Robert Fico stated his desire to change his attitude towards the media, saying "I think it is enough" and that he does not plan any further lawsuits against media outlets except in extraordinary situations.
92.
In November 2016, Robert Fico termed journalists questioning him about allegations of public procurement rules during Slovakia's EU presidency as "dirty, anti-Slovak prostitutes".
93.
Robert Fico stated the accusations were a targeted attack to smear the country's presidency of the EU.
94.
In June 2023, Reporters Without Borders asked Robert Fico to stop legitimizing harassment of journalists.
95.
RDF reasoned that Robert Fico was legitimizing harassment of journalists by participating in the discussion and not denouncing the calls for violence against Pribelsky.
96.
Robert Fico has two siblings, younger sister Lucia and older brother Ladislav.
97.
At least since 2020, Robert Fico has practiced an open relationship with Katarina Szalayova, and they have been seen together on holidays on many occasions.
98.
In summer 2021, while on vacation in Greece, Robert Fico passed out during breakfast.
99.
Robert Fico was taken to the hospital, where doctors found out that it was COVID-19, which, combined with fever and low blood pressure, had caused him to pass out.
100.
Robert Fico was reportedly in a "life-threatening" condition after the attack, having suffered wounds to his stomach, arms, and legs, but was stabilized following emergency surgery.
101.
Robert Fico discussed his baptism, Holy Communion, Confirmation and how the Catholic faith had impacted his childhood.
102.
Apart from his native Slovak language, Robert Fico is fluent in English and Russian.