Political researcher Emilia Palonen believes that the attack has already been made a tool of internal politics in Slovakia. Prime Minister Fico’s supporters blame the opposition for the shooting.
15:33•Updated 15:44
to the Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico yesterday’s attack did not surprise the senior lecturer in political science at the University of Helsinki Emilia from Palo.
– My first reaction was that it’s crazy. Now we can get it, Palonen says.
– Fico has polarized Slovakia quite strongly. He himself said a few days ago that if you continue to criticize us, there may be political murders, the researcher continues.
According to Emilia Palonen, Fico is the president of Russia Vladimir Putin a sympathetic leader, a right-wing populist who can be directly compared to Hungary’s Eurosceptic prime minister to Viktor Orbán.
Hungary, Poland and Slovakia are united by the fact that the countries are politically quite divided.
– At the European level, it is clear that a lot of political violence and confrontation has arisen. The right-wing populist parties in particular want to clean out the left, Palonen analysed.
– The shooting of a politician always means that there is some kind of atmosphere of violence, the researcher sums up.
Tensions have increased throughout Europe
According to researcher Palonen, tensions have also increased in Finland and they follow broader European developments.
– Acceptance and idealization of political violence has been in the air in different parts of Europe. If you put the shooting of a member of parliament that happened a while ago in Finland in this context, it appears more serious and part of the whole culture of violence, says Palonen, referring to the shooting incident of member of parliament Timo Vornase.
The researcher believes that the political situation in Slovakia may become even more tense due to the attack on the prime minister. Palonen characterizes the attack as a terrible tragedy, which has already become part of politics.
– The prime minister’s supporters present the matter as if Fico is only a victim and that everything is the fault of the opposition. This is exactly how polarization works! And people accept it because it fits their polarized mind, Palonen analyzed.