Prime Minister Fico could perhaps be earnestly convinced of his righteous quest to lead his nation a into glorious future. Such a noble task would normally fall on the shoulders of legendary kings. Mr Fico, however, is merely a populist leader - but a skilled one - missing the finesse of a great statesman and his flaws are becoming more and more apparent. When arguing in debates, press conferences his ability as an ex-lawyer or as a current politician, who bears the political responsibility of the current government are becoming less and less convincing.
In my previous observation on the circus of "checking" on the ministries, where each ministry has fulfilled its five-year-plan... er.. sorry; the policies, we see a Ficoid chameleon, changing colours every other day: A week ago, the sole responsible Prime Minister declared how well the Ministry of Construction performed (hardly a surprising statement). And all this despite the fact, that initially this ministry is connected to the so-called "bulletin board tender". Announcing a tender on a bulletin board in a restricted area is not completely according to EU regulations, when a dodgy deal follows, with overcharged invoices for zero services, it is clearly not a clean deal. No wonder, the company was closely related to the nationalist SNS coalition party leader.
Initially, the responsible minister was sacked (which was a justified and a logical step), however to be succeeded by the very same person, who machinated the whole scheme. A total of three parliamentary motions to fire the minister followed, without any success, as the coalition parties had great interest to keep the club together. Fico was hardly bothered of creating an image of leading a Thieves' Club.
And while still defending the reputation of the Ministry last week, the Supreme Audit Office concluded a few days later that there were doubts about the whole matter. A bit late, but still. Mr Fico then finally advised Minister Štefanov to resign himself - which the latter refused, so he had to be kicked out.
The soap continues, as the present supervising Education Minister has namely appointed the very same rookie as his personal advisor, based on his professionalism. How far can your contempt for the tax paying citizens go? In short: you steal; you get your boss' job; you get finally kicked out; and you remain to advise your successor how to run the shop.
Fico has therefore never been a convincing politician (nor a lawyer). Passing the buck, without taking any political responsibility, which is inherent to his job, is the only thing he is capable of. But with this latest farce, he definitively has proven to be the greatest crook in town. A Prime Minister, regardless of his political party, is a Prime Minister of all the citizens. But his soviet-modelled mind seems not to be able to grasp this reality. But in all honesty; what kind of credibility do you emit, when supporting such criminal behaviour. Is this modern democratic politics? Not according to my book.
MS
In a normal functioning democracy, complete with a sense of ethics and morality, by now Štefanov would be sharing a prison cell withour our great leader. Fortunately for them and the other many criminals encumbant in the Slovak 'parliament', the law doesn't apply to those with the right connections, but that's fine with the voters apparently.
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