The Party of European Socialists (PES) is set to permanently expel the Smer-SD political party led by Slovak Premier Robert Fico from its structures at the party congress due to take place in Amsterdam in October, according to information published by Euractiv.com, citing three sources.
The socialists' presidium decided to suspend Smer-SD's full membership and Hlas-SD's associate membership in October 2023 for deviating from PES's values and forming a governing coalition with the Slovak National Party (SNS). According to one of the sources, Hlas's membership will remain only suspended.
The decision to expel Smer-SD definitively should be ratified in October, which will leave Robert Fico even more isolated on the European arena, wrote Euractiv.
The socialists took a similar step in 2023, when they stripped the Georgian ruling party, Georgian Dream, of its observer status due to its pro-Russian stances.
Source: TASR
