UK PM Sunak ‘shocked’ at shooting of Slovakian counterpart, Fico; President-elect warns of ‘threat to democracy’
London/Bratislava, May 15, 2024
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he was “shocked” by the “awful news” that his Slovakian counterpart Robert Fico had been shot.
Fico is in a life-threatening condition after being wounded in the shooting in the town of Handlova.
Sunak said on X, formerly Twitter: “Shocked to hear this awful news.
“All our thoughts are with Prime Minister Fico and his family.”
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said: “Shocking news from Slovakia. My thoughts are with Robert Fico and his family.”
Shadow foreign secretary David Lammy said he was “shocked by the appalling attack”, adding: “Violence like this constitutes an attack on democracy that must be condemned in the strongest terms.”
Former prime minister Boris Johnson said it was a “horrendous attack”, adding: “Wishing him every strength and a rapid recovery.”
Fico became prime minister for the third time after his party won Slovakia’s Sept. 30 parliamentary elections, staging a political comeback after campaigning on a pro-Russian and anti-American message.
European Council president Charles Michel said: “I am shocked at the news of the attack on Slovakian PM Fico after a meeting of the Slovak cabinet in Handlova.
“Nothing can ever justify violence or such attacks.
“My thoughts are with the prime minister and his family.”
Meanwhile, Slovakia’s president-elect Peter Pellegrini has condemned the attack on Prime Minister Robert Fico as an “unprecedented threat to Slovak democracy.”
“If we express political opinions with guns in the public squares, and not in the polling stations, we are jeopardising everything we have built together in the 31 years of Slovak independence,” the Social Democrat politician warned on Wednesday.
Pellegrini cancelled a trip abroad.
He is considered a close ally of Fico, even though he founded his party, Hlas, four years ago as a splinter from Fico’s left-wing populist Smer.
He won the presidential election in April and will succeed the outgoing liberal president Zuzana Čaputová in June.
The Slovak Republic gained independence in 1993 with the division of Czechoslovakia.
