Slovakia: Anti-Pandemic Fight Victim of Politicization

Abstract

Slovakia’s political system was put to a rather unusual test. While the COVID-19 pandemic was rapidly spreading in the European Union, the country went through parliamentary elections, coalition formation and new government being sworn, all in three-weeks time in March 2020. New Prime Minister Igor Matovič had never held an executive position before and suddenly faced what had seemed the biggest crisis in country’s modern history. This chapter will argue that the new government was rather successful in containing the new coronavirus and keep the number of infected, as well as the death toll rather low in the first pandemic wave. However, this was accompanied by rather explicit populism in both politics and rhetoric. The Prime Minister created a parallel, and, some would argue, unconstitutional structure outside the legislative framework the country has for various crisis situations. On the other hand, the political opposition used the pandemic to polarize society and destabilize coalition government. Government’s position towards European integration, and Euro-Atlantic cooperation in general, has improved. This is, however, more the result of the change in government than and would have happened even without the COVID-19 pandemic.