The leftist populist Nato and Euro skeptic Robert Fico and his Smer party have formed coalition government and become Slovak PM for the 3rd time.
His coalition includes Hlas party, which hived off from Smer in 2020, and the ultra-nationalist Slovak National Party.
He terminated arms aid to the Ukraine, as he had promised during the campaign, though commercial military deals will continue.
The freakouts are beginning already, particularly from the Baltic States.
In addition to the Ukraine and relations with Russia, turning away from the previous government's neoliberal dismantling of their social safety net appears to have figured prominently in this election.
In terms of the war, withdrawing military aid is int particularly significant, the contributions were never large, and Slovakia's military inventories are already depleted, and there are no indications that they would prevent the transit of 3rd party weapons to the Ukraine.
I do think that populists in general, and right nationalist populists in particular are likely to make gains across Europe.
Both the stresses of war, and the pushes by Brussels for austerity create a Petri dish for political extremism, particularly given the EU's largely anti-democratic structures making other alternatives politically non viable.
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