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The Slovak government had been steadily moving towards collapse a few months earlier. The root causes of the crisis have emerged in recent months, but the last straw was the prime minister’s decision to arbitrarily buy Sputnik V vaccines, despite opposition from coalition partners and the lack of drug registration tests. by the European Medicines Agency.
Opponents of the prime minister, like most European politicians, call Sputnik V part of a hybrid war, although the Slovaks interviewed are not opposed to vaccinating such vaccines. It is also unclear what to do with the Sputnik V vaccine already delivered, no one knows yet, and what awaits the authorities, reports the BBC.
On Wednesday, the country’s president, Z. Chaputova, demanded that the prime minister step down as prime minister. He spoke of his desire to leave on Sunday, but imposed a series of conditions. Some of them – the withdrawal of ministers from other parties from the ruling coalition – have already been fulfilled: the ministers of Economy, Law, Science and Foreign Relations resigned earlier this week.
However, the prime minister also demanded guarantees that he would hold a position in the new government, which should be made up of members of the same four ruling parties. The country’s president at the time stated that he was not ready to swap positions.
“It is imperative that the Prime Minister, with his resignation, lays the foundation for a new basis for the formation of the government of the coalition partners,” he said.
As in many other countries that have experienced recent political crises, the main cause of disagreement is the COVID-19 pandemic, the tensions caused by the disaster itself and its aftermath. In the first months of this year, Slovakia shot to the top of the ranking of the number of deaths per 100,000 inhabitants from coronavirus in Europe.
A year ago, the government, by taking strict quarantine measures, managed to prevent the spread of the infection, but after the second wave of the epidemic in the fall of 2020, 5.4 million. The number of people killed by COVID-19 infection in a country with more than 9,000 people Such an experience did not contribute to the population’s confidence in the government: the rating of the ruling parties fell by a third, and now the former first minister does not want to see 80 percent. population.
Delays due to closures, open mountain resorts
Last fall, I. Matovičius expected a universal Slovak antibody test. After analyzing nearly three-quarters of the country’s population, it became clear that no more than 1 percent had been ill. population of the country. I. Matovičius assured that the country would be an example for other states, and critics claimed that it was a waste of money. The epidemiologists explained that the target groups should be evaluated: epidemic foci and factories.
Winter showed that universal testing in this case did not help prevent an outbreak of deaths in hospitals and overcrowded populations when morbidity increased. The authorities disagreed for a long time on the introduction of restrictions, and when they decided, it was “adapted to local needs”: shops and restaurants were closed, but alpine ski resorts and hotels were open during the summer holidays. winter. The result: In the first ten days after the Christmas holidays, morbidity increased more than in all of November.
The then prime minister accused the population of irresponsibility for the jump in morbidity. However, the Slovaks pointed out that the government had not complied with epidemiologists’ demands to introduce a complete “locomotive.”
Underground agreement
At the beginning of the year, the supply of coronavirus vaccines in Slovakia, as in many European countries, failed to meet the huge demand. In February, I. Matovičius offered to buy Russia’s Sputnik V. The idea was rejected by the government, stating that it had not yet been registered by the European Medicines Agency. Veronika Remishova, a deputy MP for the coalition partners, exercised her right of veto and pointed out that the use of an unlicensed Russian vaccine in the EU would be an “experiment with live people”.
It seemed that the “matter was closed”, but the ruling coalition of I. Matovičius, as well as all Slovaks, had to admit with surprise that it was not.
Secretly from his colleagues in the government, the recently appointed Prime Minister of Slovakia Marek Kraić signed an agreement with the Direct Investment Fund of Russia over 2 million. dose of Russian vaccine.
On March 1, the plane landed in Slovakia with the first 100,000. dose. Then another came in. I. Matovičius and M. Kraičis personally knew the charge and posed positively in front of the cameras.
Then there was a great scandal. Then-Foreign Minister Ivan Korchok said the Moscow deal puts Slovakia in an awkward position vis-à-vis EU and NATO partners.
“Sputnik is not the simplest vaccine, but part of a hybrid war,” he explained.
So the government started looking for a compromise. Initially, the prime minister offered to return the vaccine to Russia, then abandoned the idea, stating that although Slovakia’s membership in the EU is unwavering, he believes that only a killer can reject a high-quality vaccine. At the time, he also sparked an international scandal, joking unsuccessfully that he had promised to deliver Transcarpathia to Ukraine for vaccines. I also had to apologize to the Ukrainians.
The prime minister assured that a dispute over the use of the vaccine would not affect the government’s work, although at some point he agreed that the health minister might have to resign. But a couple of weeks later, there were already six empty seats in the government, and now it is his turn.
The fate of the Sputnik V vaccines already received is unclear. Russia’s direct investment fund The BBC has not disclosed what will happen to the Slovak contract. Scientists in this country are now testing those vaccines in mice, essentially repeating the same procedures that Russian scientists performed many months ago.
Polls show that 10 percent. Slovaks are ready to get vaccinated with the Russian vaccine. Any other non-Russian vaccine would like to be vaccinated at 22 percent.
“Russia has further divided the rulers”
Martin Kovač, deputy editor of Hospodarske Noviny, one of Slovakia’s leading publications, says Matovičius had two options and both were bad. “If he had abandoned the idea of acquiring Sputnik, his popularity would suffer, and when he agreed, he would be angry with all those who see the enemy in Russia.” By offering us the vaccine, Russia has further divided the ruling coalition, “he told the BBC.
Before the pandemic, despite the scandal surrounding the murder of famous journalist Jan Kučak and his wife in 2018, there was essentially no fragmentation in the government’s work.
The experts interviewed were also unable to answer whether Russia tried to divide the Slovak government by offering its own vaccine. There is no serious evidence of this, but the government, tired of the pandemic and divided, has already effectively reconciled itself that early parliamentary elections will have to be held soon.
The crisis has been compounded by fears that Robert Fico, who led the government ten years ago and is controversial, may return to power. The current coalition will not want to allow this, so the government will have to take steps to end the disagreement. Recent polls already show that former colleague Roberto Fico, another former prime minister, Peter Pelegrini, would now get the most votes in the elections.
It is true that the rulers themselves do not intend to surrender without a fight. Already on Thursday the formation of a new cabinet and the “end of the vaccine crisis in Russia” was announced. From now on, former Finance Minister Eduard Heger will become Prime Minister of Slovakia, and I. Matovičius himself is applying for his place. It is announced that most other ministers should also preserve their jobs.
Warnig, 65, doesn’t like publicity. When asked how often he meets with Putin, the latter’s friend and former Stasi agent replied that the Russian president did not have a mobile phone, but added: “If I need to see it, we are already fixing it.”
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