An ‘ideological’ stance toward Slovakia?

A potential German left-wing progressive government ruled by the SPD may be bad news for Slovakia and the Visegrad region. Especially with Die Linke in the coalition, said Milan Nič, the German Council on Foreign Relations analyst.

Even without Die Linke in the government, Nič expects the new government’s stance towards Visegrad countries to be more ideological and with fewer personal ties that would attenuate conflicts.

“Not only that social democrats are not in the government in any of the Visegrad countries; they are not even in charge of capital cities”.

Moreover, the new coalition may be stricter in the questions like the rule of law, democratic principles, climate and energy. This will mean deterioration of relations, especially with Warsaw. However, a push for such questions may also mean less cohesion in Visegrad because the “new government will focus on issues, on which Visegrad countries do not agree upon themselves”.

Analysts expect the most significant tension to arise in the case of Die Linke in the government. “Besides other things, we would have to open questions such as defence or foreign relations”.

German elections are so far not a topic in Slovakia. Public statements of the government officials are scarce, as well as media coverage. Nič implies that this reflects the overall state of German-Slovak relations.

“They are empty and mostly based on a European level. I would expect the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to prioritise relations with Berlin,” Nič added.

A few exceptions include the initiatives of president Zuzana Čaputová who recently received her German counterpart, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in Bratislava.