Slovakia's Government Faces Confidence Vote Amid Rising Debt Crisis

The Slovak government is set to face a parliamentary confidence vote on Thursday after the country’s debt exceeded constitutional fiscal limits. The motion was initiated following a ruling by Slovakia's Constitutional Court on Wednesday, which mandated the government to seek a confidence vote without delay.

Prime Minister Robert Fico, a populist leader, acknowledged the court's decision and called for the vote. His coalition government holds a majority of 78 seats in the 150-seat National Council, making it likely to survive the vote.

The debate over the motion has been restricted to 12.5 hours by coalition lawmakers. Fico noted that the government had initially intended to combine the confidence vote with a separate vote on next year’s state budget, scheduled for later this year.

The issue arose after Eurostat, the European Union’s statistics body, reported in November that Slovakia’s debt had reached 59.7% of its gross national product (GNP). Since then, the Slovak Statistics Office has confirmed that the figure has risen to 61.4%. While this remains below the EU average, it breaches Slovakia’s constitutional debt limit.

The country’s rising debt can be attributed to increased state spending aimed at mitigating the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the fallout from Russia’s war in Ukraine, which led to surging energy prices.