SGI 2022 | Slovakia | Executive Summary

Executive Summary

Recent Governments Experts

SGI experts on Slovakia

Filip Flaška

Filip Flaska is a graduate of the Faculty of Economics of the Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica (MBU), where he received the degree of PhD in 2008 in Public Economy and Services. He is an assistant professor at the Department of Public Economics and Regional Development of the Faculty of Economics of MBU, where he also worked as the head of the department (almost 8 years). In educational activities as well as scientific and research activities, he mainly deals with issues of public administration management, public finances, learning regions, rural development management and environmental management. He is the author or co-author of several scientific publications, scientific articles and contributions. He has professional experience in the field of local governments’ audit. He coordinated or participated on realization of several domestic and international research projects, as well as projects for practice in the field of public and local finance, decentralization of public administration, fiscal decentralization, regional development and ecosystem services.

Stanislav Kološta

Stanislav Kološta is associate professor at Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica, Faculty of Economics at the Department of Public Economics and Regional Development. The professional focus in the pedagogical and publishing field is on regional development, measurement and evaluation of indicators of sustainable development and macroeconomic indicators, environmental and ecological economics, ecosystem services, spatial economy. Participates in the solution of several domestic and foreign projects (APVV, VEGA, EEA Grants, ASO, 7 FP, HORIZON). He participated at creation of local and regional governments strategies within environmental parts.

Juraj Nemec

Mr. Juraj Nemec is full time Professor of Public Finance and Public Management at the Faculty of Economics and Administration at Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic and part time Professor at the Faculty of Economics at Matej Bel University in Banska Bystrica, Slovakia. He published about 600 academic publications and filled several academic posts, including the position of ‘Dean of the Faculty of Finance’. He has 40 years’ experience in teaching on pre-graduate, graduate and doctoral levels. He served and serves in many positions in international organisations - as the President of the Network of Institutes and Schools of Public Administration in Central and Eastern Europe, the Vice-President of the International Association of Schools and Institutes of Administration, the Vice-President of the International Research Society for Public Management, the member of the Accreditation Committee of the European Association of Public Administration Accreditation and the member of the Committee of Experts on Public Administration (United Nations). Mr. Nemec has also extensive advisory and consultancy expertise in various transition countries.
His research focuses on public administration, public financial management and public policy, with specific interest in public procurement, health economics and policy.

Darina Malová

Darina Malová is professor of political science at the Comenius University in Bratislava (Slovakia). Her main publications focus on Slovak and Central European politics and governments. She has co-authored the monographs From Listening to Action: New Member States in the European Union (Bratislava, Devin 2010) and Governing New Democracies (Palgrave 2007). She has also published numerous articles and chapters in edited volumes on Slovakia. Since January 1993, she has regularly contributed to the Political Data Yearbook published by the European Journal of Political Research.

Petra Guasti (Coordinator)

Petra Guasti is an Associate Professor of Democratic Theory at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University in Prague and a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Sociology, Czech Academy of Sciences (on leave). Between 2016 and 2021 served as a senior researcher, an Interim Professor and adjunct lecturer at the Goethe University Frankfurt. In April 2021 she completed her (cumulative) habilitation Democracy Disrupted at the Goethe University Frankfurt. Petra received her doctoral degree in political science from the University of Bremen. She also previously earned a doctoral degree in political sociology from the Charles University in Prague. In March 2019, she completed an eight-month Visiting Democracy Fellowship at Harvard University’s Ash Centre for Democratic Governance and Innovation at the John F. Kennedy School of Government. She serves as an expert for Bertelsmann Transformation Index, Sustainable Governance Indicators for over a decade, and V-Dem since 2018. In 2020 she has been appointed to the expert board of the Nation in Transit (Freedom House).

The period under review (January 15, 2022 – January 15, 2024) was marked by significant turbulence in the Slovak Republic. The performance of the OĽaNO government began to deteriorate in the summer of 2022 due to internal conflicts within the ruling coalition, particularly between Igor Matovič, leader of OĽaNO, and Richard Sulík of the Freedom and Solidarity party (SaS). This tension led to the SaS leaving the coalition on August 31, 2022, with all its ministers resigning in early September. Consequently, the government lost its majority in parliament, holding only 68 of 150 seats. Although Sulík initially promised his party’s support for reforms, the SaS and Pellegrini’s Hlas (Voice) party initiated a successful no-confidence vote on December 15, 2022, which passed with 78 votes. Sulík justified this action by accusing Finance Minister Igor Matovič of reneging on his offer to resign, which had been intended to prevent the no-confidence vote and enable the government to continue functioning.

The Heger government did not stay in office until the early elections; it was replaced on May 15, 2023, by a caretaker government led by Prime Minister Ľudovít Ódor. This government did not receive a vote of confidence from parliament and was therefore commissioned to rule with limited powers. In the national elections held on September 30, 2023, Robert Fico’s political party, Smer, won with 23% of the vote and formed a government with Pellegrini’s Hlas and the Slovak National Party (SNS). Analysts widely agree that the primary cause for the fall of the OĽaNO government was Igor Matovič’s extremely low capacity for strategic and collaborative leadership.

During this period of political instability, Slovakia also faced significant external challenges. The “third” phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in the winter of 2021-2022 left the country among the most affected. Additionally, the Ukraine war resulted in a massive inflow of Ukrainian refugees, and the concurrent energy crisis contributed to severe inflation.

These turbulent times severely impacted the quality of governance, particularly in terms of foresight and sustainable policymaking. Political conflicts within the ruling coalition and the urgent need to address the poly-crisis further diminished the already limited capacity of Heger’s government for strategic and evidence-based policymaking. Despite preparing the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, approved by the European Union in spring 2022, the government’s measures, particularly in healthcare and judicial reforms, faced significant delays. Ódor’s government made efforts to improve governance by preparing white papers, but its proposals were rejected by both former coalition members and the opposition.

The new Fico government has taken steps to stabilize the critically unstable national public finances. However, its initial actions have shown signs of revanchism and a limited commitment to fighting corruption. The first months of this government have been characterized by strong polarization between the new coalition and the opposition.

Slovakia exemplifies a typical post-transition country. While it has largely constructed new structures and aligned its legal and institutional systems with international best practices, implementation remains limited or absent. The most critical barriers to progress are the prioritization of politics over evidence-based policy, non-collaborative governance, and systemic corruption.