Yearbook 2006
Slovakia. At the beginning of the year, a treaty was
discussed with the Vatican that would give healthcare
workers the right to refuse to participate in abortions or
artificial insemination for religious reasons. The
conscience clause would apply to employees at the Catholic
Church's hospital, but critics said it could be invoked by
Slovakia's many Catholic health care workers at other
hospitals, thereby limiting access to abortion. According to
CountryAAH, Prime
Minister Mikuláš Dzurinda did not want to legislate the
treaty, prompting the Christian Democrats to leave the
government coalition. Dzurinda then requested that the
parliamentary elections be scheduled from September to June.
The Social Democratic Left Party Smers leader Robert Fico
promised in the election movement to stop privatizations and
other market reforms implemented or initiated by the
Dzurinda government. Fico was accused by his opponents of
populism for promising to improve the conditions for
pensioners and low-income earners. But Fico's party won the
election with just over 29% of the vote before Dzurinda's
Social Democrats, SDKU, which got just over 18%. Robert Fico
was commissioned to form a new government but had difficulty
obtaining a majority for the system change his party went to
for election. He received support from the left-wing
nationalist LS-HZDS, but was also forced to turn to the
right-wing Slovak Nationalist Party (SNS) to establish a
government majority. The cooperation with the SNS led to
harsh European criticism of Fico and his party Smer, who
were excluded from the socialist group in the European
Parliament.
The relationship between Slovakia and Hungary
deteriorated when some ethnic Hungarians in Slovakia were
attacked during the summer. The Hungarian government accused
Slovakia of growing xenophobia and left an official protest.
Slovakia promised to intervene against the perpetrators, but
said Hungary was overreacting. About a tenth of the Slovak
population is ethnic Hungarian.
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