The Assassination Attempt on Robert Fico Will Change Slovakia Forever
By Dalibor Rohac
The Spectator
May 15, 2024

Slovakia’s prime minister Robert Fico is fighting for his life in hospital after being shot several times. While it is impossible to fully flesh out the consequences of today’s assassination attempt, it is safe to say that the event is a dramatic game changer for Slovak, and potentially for Central European, politics.
During a meet and greet with the public following a cabinet meeting in the small mining town of Handlová, a man reportedly shouted at Fico, ‘Rob, come here,’ before shooting at him three or four times aiming at his chest and abdomen. The prime minister fell on the ground before being taken by his protection officers to the car and then on to the hospital in Banská Bystrica. His alleged attacker has been arrested.
The assassination attempt has, unsurprisingly, horrified Slovaks of all political stripes. Political violence has not been a regular feature of politics in Central Europe. To find an example of an assassination of a truly prominent political figure in Slovakia – or rather in Czechoslovakia – one may need to go back to 1923, when an anarchist shot the finance minister Alois Rašín in Prague. 
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