Bratislava - The first government of Robert Fico from 2006-2010 was likened to the Vladimír Mečiar era characterized by corruption, nepotism and ill-managed privatization of state enterprises.
Now, Fico is going to be in charge of Slovakia again, and Slovaks may only hope that he has learned from his past mistakes and will adopt a different political style.
Fico indeed appears to be in a better position than he was six years ago. This time, he will not have to deal with problematic coalition partners such as the populist Movement for Democratic Slovakia and the nationalist Slovak National Party.
He will not have to privatize large state enterprises and the outgoing right-wing government has left the economy in a healthy state.
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Slovakia posted the best economic growth of all the eurozone in 2011. Slovak GDP expanded by 3.4 percent, and in the last quarter of the year the growth rate reached 0.9 percent, while most other EU countries were stagnating or growing at a much slower pace.
However, this year's budget deficit is forecast at 4.6 percent of GDP. Fico will have to maintain the deficit at this level, or better yet, cut it, because the European Commission will start to enforce the Maastricht criteria with new vigor in 2013.
Still, Slovakia's total debt is 41 percent of GDP, which is comfortably below the EU average.
But the economy and public finances will not be the only challenges of Fico's government.
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None of the five right-wing parties that made it into the Slovak parliament want to join a coalition with Fico, as he himself admitted to public Slovak Television.
In addition, the public trust in politicians and the politics in general has reached a record low in Slovakia after the so-called Gorilla affair.
In order to support economic growth, Fico will rely on so-called Public-Private Partnership (PPP) programs, especially highway construction projects.
However, similar projects in the Czech Republic cost tens of billions in taxpayers' money every year due to corruption and over-prized contracts.
After the Gorrila affair, the Slovak public will be very sensitive to any hints of corruption, while the opposition will wait for a slightest misstep to attack the government. Thus, Fico will have to try hard to restrain his ministers and deputies, or his government may not complete its full term.
