Slovakia’s government wins parliamentary confidence vote over debt exceeding constitutional limit

Audio By Carbonatix

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) — The Slovak government won a parliamentary confidence vote Thursday that was triggered by the country’s debt surpassing fiscal limits set by the Constitution.

All the 78 lawmakers loyal to the three-party coalition government led by Prime Minister Robert Fico voted in support of his Cabinet. Fifty-four in the 150-seat Parliament known as the National Council voted against.

The opposition filed a complaint with the court in November after the European Union statistics body, Eurostat, said Slovak debt reached 59.7% of gross domestic product the previous month. It has risen to 61.4% since, according to the Slovak Statistics Office, although it is still below the average among European Union countries.

The threshold to trigger the vote is 50% in Slovakia.

Fico called the vote after the Constitutional Court, the country’s highest authority, ruled Wednesday that the government had to do so. He said the government was originally planning to link such a vote to another to be held later this year on the next year’s budget.

Slovakia, like many other European countries, increased state spending to counteract the economic shocks of the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s war against Ukraine, which caused energy prices to spike.

The Slovak Supreme Audit Office said on Tuesday that the Slovak economy grew only 0.8% in 2025, the slowest rate in the last three years. Government spending has grown faster, contributing to the rising debt.

Fico has been a divisive figure since returning to power in 2023. His pro-Russian stance and other policies have prompted numerous protests.