Slovakia’s Eastern Policy in 2019: The Ruling Coalition in Cacophony
Slovakia’s Eastern Policy in 2019: The Ruling Coalition in Cacophony

Author(s): Alexander Duleba
Subject(s): Politics, Geography, Regional studies, International relations/trade, Security and defense
Published by: Research Center of the Slovak Foreign Policy Association (RC SFPA)
Keywords: Slovakia; foreign policy; eastern policy; 2019; security;
Summary/Abstract: The year 2019 was the last full calendar year in which the coalition formed of SmerSocial Democracy (Smer-SD), Most-Híd (Most) and the Slovak National Party (SNS) was in government following the parliamentary elections in 2016. Yet by the end of 2019 it was clear that the coalition would no longer be able to govern after the February 2020 parliamentary elections. The foreign policy consensus among the Slovak political elite began collapsing back in 2014–2015, following the onset of the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, and broke down completely in 2019. The main reason for this was Slovakia’s eastern policy, and the contradictory messaging over Slovakia’s interests vis-a`-vis Russia and Ukraine, also evident in the ruling parties’ attitudes towards the EU and NATO. The cacophony around Slovakia’s eastern policy reached a height in 2019. Each of the three governmental parties pursued their own eastern policy. Moreover, two of them – Smer-SD and Most – allowed the third coalition partner SNS to continually delay the adoption of the new security strategy, allegedly because it was “anti-Russian.” The government coalition failed to meet one of the objectives of its own program agreed at the beginning of the government’s term.

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