Fico drops joining Patriots, could create new Parliament group with 'friends of peace'

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has dropped plans to join the hard-right Patriots for Europe in the European Parliament, a close aide and MEP Monika Benova told Euronews.

Fico's Smer party was expelled from the Party of Socialists and Democrats in October for "breaching the values" of the centre-left party family, a move which triggered speculation about a possible transfer to Patriots of Europe.

Despite holding meetings with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Fico no longer plans to join a different formation and is looking at creating his own.

"Following my discussions with Prime Minister Fico, I can share with you that he does not like to join another group and he waits for next year," Beňová told Euronews.

One of the options looking into 2026 would be for Fico to set up a new parliamentary group at the European Parliament with like-minded left-oriented parties.

The group could be articulated around a coalition of "friends of peace," Beňová said, without giving details about who else could join.

Fico's Smer has roots in European social democracy but the two have clashed in recent months as Fico lashed at what he called woke progressive policies, distant from the working class. Meanwhile, the European Socialist Democrats ended unanimously their historic cooperation arguing that Fico has betrayed common values and no longer represent social democracy.

Peace narrative gaining ground with hard left

Fico has repeatedly called for an end to Russia's war in Ukraine and has criticised European efforts to support Ukraine and sanction Russia.

Much like the Hungarians, Fico argues the war must be resolved between Russia and Ukraine, and Europeans are part of a war coalition that is not interested in peace.

“The goal of the foreign policy of the Slovak Republic is not the defeat of the Russian Federation. Our goal is to end the war in Ukraine as soon as possible. These are Slavs killing each other. War is not a solution," Fico said in October in a televised debate in Bratislava.

European leaders have repeatedly called for a sustained and fair peace for Ukraine.

According to the Slovak press, a possible candidate for future cooperation could be Germany's Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW).

Wagenknecht was a member of Die Linke or The Left party before establishing BSW, which is critical of migration and blames the West for the war in Ukraine.

Setting up a new political group would be a challenging task for Fico, as he would need to lock at least 23 MEPs from seven different EU member states.