In April, the Slovak Parliament passed a controversial piece of legislation meant to curb the work and life of NGOs and other civil society organisations.[1] Ostensibly to make their activity more transparent, but in reality, to show force.[2] The ruling coalition made several moves to limit the influence of NGOs and thus stifle public scrutiny of the executive.
Slovakia has a rich history of social movements
and a strong civic sector dating back to the early years of the Republic and
even before that, the Velvet Revolution.[3]
Last year, it was reported that there were approximately 17,000 different
non-governmental organisations and groups active in the country.[4]
However, Robert Fico’s governments gradually began to view NGOs and civil
society organisations antagonistically as potential sources of
illegitimate influence and political opposition. As such, they sought to
repress them.
We could already see early signs of this in 2018, the year in which the large-scale anti-government protests, following the murder of journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kušnírová, resulted in PM Fico’s resignation and the collapse of his Cabinet. Fico, at the time, suggested that the protests were organised by NGOs controlled by George Soros—a populist right-wing trope that has been recurring in his speeches even today. He floated the idea of curbing the influence of NGOs briefly before resigning in shame.[5] Fico has been back in power since 2023[6] and seems inclined to move Slovakia more to the right, towards the Hungarian model of illiberal democracy.[7]
