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Europe

Slovak leftists vow to usher in reforms

2006-06-20

Slovakia's leftist Smer party promised a radical break with economic reforms yesterday after winning an election that showed voters' fatigue with the tough changes made during eight years of centre-right rule. Smer, led by populist Robert Fico, faces a struggle to form a coalition government after failing to win a majority in Saturday's parliamentary election, the first since the former communist nation joined the European Union and Nato in 2004.

Official results showed Smer won 29.1 per cent of votes and reformist Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda's party secured 18.4 per cent. Weeks of coalition talks are now likely and Dzurinda could stay in power if Fico fails to find any partners. The talks are likely to decide the fate of reforms which won plaudits abroad and transformed the landlocked nation of 5.4 million people into one of Europe's fastest growing economies, but left unemployment high and proved painful for many.

Posted by:Fred

#9 Karl was never that funny, as I recall.
It was all inside-the-purge stuff.

Posted by: 6 2006-06-20 18:51

#8 TW, I can do quadrilingually too, but that would be completely unintentional and a sign that I neglected my sleeping hours. ;-)

Posted by: twobyfour 2006-06-20 16:46

#7 And you did so bilingually, too!

Posted by: trailing wife 2006-06-20 13:44

#6 I'm sorry, twobyfour, in my pursuit of brevity (endlessly pursued, very rarely caught, I fear!), I was unclear. The point you make is exactly the one I meant to: by separating they lost considerably more than the ego boost they gained. Thank you for taking care of that for me. :-)

Posted by: trailing wife 2006-06-20 13:43

#5 TW, actually, it would be nice if they don't learn the lesson and separate. Since Cree and other tribes have a claim on about 85% of Quebec territory and already expressed the desire to secede in the case of Quebec independence, the loss of territory to anglophone Canada--if they stick together--would be thus minimal. Everyone would be better of, except Quebec, but they'll get what they wanted as a consolation prix.

Posted by: twobyfour 2006-06-20 10:38

#4 Chico, Zeppo, Groucho, Harpo and... Karl?

Karl was never that funny, as I recall.

Posted by: mojo 2006-06-20 10:29

#3 The poor Slovakis. Tricked by power hungry nationalist politicians into demanding separation from the Czechs, they were shocked when Vaclav Havel agreed rather than buying them off. Only the Czech half of the country is where all the industry is; Slovakia has family farms and scenery. Freed from the burden of supporting the country cousins, the Czech economy linked itself to Germany as the low-cost supplier of many things, while Slovakia languished and seethed. At one point they even asked to rejoin, but the Czechs saw no benefit and refused. If only the Quebec nationalists would learn the lesson taught so well by Slovakia...

Posted by: trailing wife 2006-06-20 08:15

#2 And yet another former Communist population misses the point and throws away the party and system which has proven itself far more successful economically. Sigh. Sad, isn't it, that they can't seem to grasp what is within their grasp due to their short dalliance with Capitalism?

Stupid is as stupid does, so sayeth Madame Gump. Sink, back into the fevered swamps, and bother us no more. Another way of saying "Eat shit and die dickheads". You deserve no more than the standard fool's eulogy.

Posted by: Flaigum Floque5075 2006-06-20 06:09

#1 Smer = direction, but I suspect they mean directive. I guess that 29.1 per cent of Slovaks want to go back to the safe cozy time-tried arrangement when they would be pretending that they are working and the governmenmt would be pretending paying them for it.

Posted by: twobyfour 2006-06-20 05:55

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