People are already comparing Robert Fico’s shooting to death of Franz Ferdinand

An assassination attempt against Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico has sent shockwaves through a country where such violence is ‘unprecedented’.

Central and Eastern European politicians often travel around with little security separating them from members of the general public.

But people fear such lax security has led to Slovakia’s ‘Franz Ferdinand moment’, taking us one step closer to the looming threat of World War III.

X is already is full of people comparing the pro-Putin politician’s shooting to the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, which sparked the outbreak of World War I exactly one month later.

Like everyone in Slovakia, a country of less than 6,000,000 people, Darina Malová, a professor at Comenius University in Bratislava, was ‘sincerely shocked’ by the shooting of Fico today.

But it’s not the first time in the three decades since the fall of communism that Slovakia has been rocked by political violence.

In 1995, the then-president Michal Kováč’s son was kidnapped in neighbouring Austria.

That case may finally come to trial this year after an amnesty granted to 13 people, including the former head of the security service, was cancelled.

A wounded Robert Fico being bundled into a car after he was shot

An investigative journalist was also shot dead in 2018, forcing Fico from power for five years.

But the last two years have seen an unprecedented rise in terrorism in Slovakia.

A neo-Nazi shot dead two LGBTQ+ people outside a gay bar in Bratislava in 2022, and schools across the country were evacuated after 1,100 bomb threats were made in a single day last week.

Malová told Metro.co.uk: ‘We used to perceive ourselves as a very peaceful people, very friendly people, a kind of small-town mentality.

‘Everybody knows everybody, and people are friends.’

Much of this rise in violence is driven by an ‘extreme polarisation’ of Slovakian politics, according to Malová. And Fico is at the centre of it.

What are Robert Fico’s political views?

Fico is known as a Eurosceptic, pro-Putin defender of traditional family values with a disdain for journalists and political opposition (Picture: Radovan Stoklasa/Profimedia/Shut)

Now in his third stint as prime minister, the populist politician has always been divisive with his links to corruption, opposition to LGBTQ+ rights, and support for Vladimir Putin.

Originally a member of the Communist Party, Robert Fico has been a member of parliament since the 1990s and a dominant figure in politics for 20 years.

A ‘talented lawyer’, he was a ‘young, semi-reformer’ before Slovakia’s Velvet Revolution toppled the regime in 1989, according to Kevin Deegan-Krause, a professor at Wayne State University.

Despite not being ‘that interested’ in the transition to democracy, Fico left the Communists for its successor, the ‘democratically-oriented, sometimes market-oriented’ Party of the Democratic Left.

But frustrated by a slow rise through the ranks, he split to launch his own party Smer – or Direction – with ‘kind of shady financial backing’ in 1999.

That party was described as ‘a little bit Blairite’ by Deegan-Krause, offering clean government and law and order.

Slovakia has seen a surge in anti-migrant and anti-Islam sentiments, driven by the far-right People’s Party-Our Slovakia, and capitalised on by Fico (Picture: Samuel Kubani/AFP via Getty)

It built playgrounds, increased pensions and flirted with an anti-Hungarian brand of nationalism while in government from 2006 to 2010.

That’s made him particularly popular among poorer sections of society, rural voters and pensioners.

Anti-migrant and anti-Islam sentiments were added to the mix amid Europe’s 2015 refugee crisis, while Fico was serving a second period as prime minister.

But he was forced to resign in 2018 after the assassination of journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée, Martina Kušnírová, both aged 27.

Fico with his ally, the Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, who people fear his government will try to emulate following his shooting (Picture: Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP)

Kuciak had been investigating alleged corruption linked to senior government politicians.

The targeted killing, which remains partially unsolved, sparked protests in 50 towns and cities across Slovakia, eventually toppling Fico’s government.

His party continued to govern without him until the 2020 election, which Smer lost.

But now Fico is back, more ‘intensely’ pursuing his political agenda, and ‘resolute in defending his own power’, according to Deegan-Krause.

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Fico returned to power in October last year, leading a coalition of parties seen as economically centre-left, socially conservative, nationalist and Eurosceptic.

Throughout that election campaign, Fico pledged not to ‘send a single round to Ukraine’, splitting from the rest of NATO and reflecting his long-standing allegiance to Putin’s authoritarian regime in Russia.

Such cosiness is not just seen in his attempts to bring media and courts under the control of his government, and to stop corruption investigations into allies.

Slovakia is one of the more pro-Putin members of NATO, which many fear could be drawn into direct conflict with Russia (Picture: Metro Graphics)

He’s also always been antagonistic to Ukraine.

Fico blamed the country for Russia switching off Slovakia’s gas supplies, on which it is heavily reliant, during a dispute between Russia and Ukraine in 2009.

He’s also repeatedly pressured Ukraine, Slovakia’s next-door neighbour, to sign a peace treaty with Russia, saying: ‘They will have to sit down anyway and find an agreement.

‘Russia will never leave Crimea, never leave the territories that it controls.’

What happened at the shooting?

The suspected shooter, a 71-year-old local man, being arrested by police after the assassination attempt on Prime Minister Robert Fico (Picture: Radovan Stoklasa/Reuters)

Today was not the first time Fico has faced threats of violence.

Juraj Krajčík, the 19-year-old who murdered to LGBT+ people in 2022, named Fico on a list of targets in his manifesto.

Then-Prime Minister Eduard Heger was also on that list, and is believed to have been Krajčík’s initial target, even waiting outside the politician’s home.

But today a shooter did get close enough to hospitalise Fico when they fired a gun at the prime minister.

Fico was in Handlova, a small town of 16,000 just northeast of the capital Bratislava.

The 59-year-old prime minister was visiting a cultural community centre for a cabinet meeting, which are held around the country to make the government feel closer to the people.

Fico was flown to hospital with ‘life-threatening’ injuries (Picture: Jan Kroslak/TASR via AP)

A 71-year-old local man fired several shots, hitting Fico, after shouting ‘Robo, come here’ while the politician spoke to people outside the building.

One elderly man who witnessed the shooting said: ‘I was just going to shake his hand.’

The suspect was tackled to the ground and security guards were seen bundling the wounded prime minister into a car that drove him away from the scene.

He was then transported by helicopter to Banska Bystrica with potentially life-threatening injuries.

A spokesperson said: ‘The next few hours will decide.’

Who assassinated Franz Ferdinand and why?

The moments before Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in on June 28, 1914 (Picture: Granger/REX/Shutterstock)

It’s been 110 years since Gavrilo Princip shot Franz Ferdinand as he was driven through Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Austria-Hungary had captured the country just six years prior.

The 19-year-old assassin was part of the Young Bosnia movement campaigning for Bosnia to leave the Austro-Hungarian empire and join Serbia.

But he had no idea just how deadly the decision to kill the heir to the imperial throne would be.

How did it lead to WW1?

Franz Ferdinand’s assassin, 19-year-old Gavrilo Princip, being arrested on the scene of the shooting (Picture: Universal History Archive/UIG/REX/Shutterstock)

Ultimately the assassination led to Austria-Hungary declaring war on Serbia, which set off a chain reaction in Europe’s alliances of great powers.

That set off World War I, with Germany and the Ottoman Empire rallying behind Austria-Hungary.

Russia joined the war on Serbia’s side, dragging in its allies, the UK and France.

Today Russia’s war is raging in Ukraine, and much of Europe is allied against Putin as part of NATO.

With such historical parallels offering ripe material for speculation, there are growing fears wars involving Ukraine, Israel and Iran could escalate into all-out conflict.

Is the Fico shooting a ‘Franz Ferdinand moment’?

Many fear war or dictatorship could come from the attempt on Robert Fico’s life (Picture: Radovan Stoklasa/TASR via AP)

X users have spent the afternoon comparing Fico’s shooting to the assassination of Franz Ferdinand.

One asked: ‘Anyone else getting Franz Ferdinand vibes here?’

Another, Rob Palk, speculated they may be ‘puzzled to find myself fighting in the trenches in a year’s time’ if we ‘ignore this ‘ignore this news from a far away nation’.

But experts don’t buy it, instead pointing to the potential influence on politics in Slovakia where it may fuel ongoing attempts to dismantle democracy.

‘The big question now is, do they manage to turn this into the Reichstag fire’, Deegan-Krause asked, referring to the Nazis seizure of absolute power after communists allegedly burnt down Germany’s seat of government.

He added: ‘They’re already starting.’

Fico has a reputation as a would-be strongman – could this be the opportunity his government needs to seize even more power? (Picture: Nadja Wohlleben/Reuters)

We don’t yet know the identity of the shooter, or their motivation. They may well be a disgruntled member of the public.

But Fico’s allies were blaming journalists and opposition politicians within minutes of the shooting, the Sme newspaper reported.

Ľuboš Blaha, a Smer MP, said: ‘You, the liberal media, the political opposition, what kind of hatred did you spread towards Robert Fico, you built gallows for him.’

He added: ‘You’ve made targets out of us all.’

Deputy Speaker of the National Council of the Slovak Republic also blamed the shooting on journalists, referring to those from Denník N as ‘disgusting b******s.’

Slovakia’s President Zuzana Čaputová, an independent aligned with the opposition Progressive party, called the shooting an ‘attack on democracy’.

But Fico’s government was already cracking down on journalists and opposition parties before today’s shooting.

In March, it introduced legislation to tighten state control of Slovakia’s public broadcaster RTVS with government-appointed members of its governing body, Euractiv reported.

Malová said: ‘I am frightened. I was already frightened after the formation of this coalition government.

‘Many of the leading figures close to Prime Minister Robert Fico were accused of being corrupt.

‘Lots of important people from his loyal circles were sentences, and Robert Fico himself was charged.

‘Those charges were lifted, so I was scared that, the minute he is in power, he may take this opportunity to prepare revenge.’

Are the ‘bones in Slovak democracy’ strong enough to withstand a power grab? (Picture: Radovan Stoklasa/Reuters)

Just today, before Fico was shot, one of his closest allies invited the Russian ambassador to Slovakia’s parliament.

That set off alarm bells for Malová, who fears a continuation of the ‘history of Russia’s meddling in internal politics’.

Malová said: ‘People are dependent on social networks on different platforms, which are definitely sponsored by Russia. People trust fake news.’

Such ‘disinformation channels’ are increasingly influential in determining voters’ choices, according to Tim Haughton, a professor at the University of Birmingham, who is currently researching the media landscape in the last election.

But could all this thrust Europe into all-out war, or Slovakia into authoritarianism?

Deegan-Krause said: ‘Slovakia has actually been one of the success stories in the region.

‘I think Slovakia’s civil society is pretty strong. I think Slovakia’s voters are pretty strong.

‘I think there are some pretty strong bones in Slovak democracy, so hopefully this is an interlude rather than a beginning of the end.’

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Fico has had an absolute majority in government before and hasn’t seized power in the same way as his autocratic allies abroad, so there is some hope this won’t happen now.

‘We need to be slightly cautious about drawing too many instant judgements’, Haughton said.

‘A lot of other things would have to happen for it to be the equivalent of a 1914 moment.

‘This is an unprecedented, very significant event. But we are in a very fluid and febrile moment, so who really knows what’s going to happen next.’

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