The left-right cabinet of populist Prime Minister Robert Fico won a confidence vote in the Slovak parliament on June 18, triggered under the budgetary responsibility rules after the public debt exceeded the legislative backstop at 59.7% of gross domestic product (GDP).

The result, backed by a narrow majority of 78 legislators in the parliament of 150, was expected, and it is also an important signal for Fico that he has the backing of his fragmented ruling coalition for the final year of his mandate.

“Today’s vote again confirms that in the basic issues the ruling partners, government parties, as well as other legislators of the ruling coalition, are united,” Fico stated in a video message posted on his Facebook page. 

“I would like to thank them for it, as I already thanked the legislators,” Fico said, adding that “today’s decision is likely the decision which won’t allow early elections to take place,” in a rare hint that past speculation about early elections amid rows inside the ruling coalition might have been more realistic than Fico was willing to admit.

The parliamentary vote came shortly after the latest Constitutional Court ruling from June 17 in which the court stated that the government is required “to act without unnecessary delay” and that the court understands this legal phrase to amount to “immediate active action of the government”.

The ruling ended months of discussions about when Fico's government should trigger the vote of confidence as Slovakia was confirmed to have exceeded state debt rules after the release of Eurostat figures last autumn.

Fico in the meantime solidified his narrow majority in the parliament after his government nominated controversial legislator and former member of the European Parliament for the neofascist L’SNS party Miroslav Radačovský as the new Slovak ambassador to Cyprus, and Peter Kmec of Hlas, Fico’s former vice prime minister for the Recovery Plan, as the new ambassador to Italy.

Both politicians were appointed to their new roles on June 17 by the country’s President Peter Pellegrini, in a move seen by liberal media as paving the way to quell ongoing rows inside Fico's fragmented coalition, which Fico was able to contain last year through his interventions and reshuffles.