Slovak PM in claims of secret anti-Islam conversations with Muscat

Slovakia’s right-wing prime minister Robert Fico has begun his third term in office by stepping up his anti-Muslim rhetoric, just weeks before the country takes over the EU Council presidency.

“It may look strange but sorry … Islam has no place in Slovakia,” Fico told the TASR Newswire.

In a longer report in Kompas – load it in Google Translate here – Fico has tried to justify his stance in the face of European outrage by saying that Malta’s Prime Minister shares his views and that they have spoken “several times” about the subject.

This, of course, is an exercise in quadruple hypocrisy by Muscat: 1. he postures as liberal and progressive while having covert illiberal and non-progressive conversations with one of Europe’s most right-wing prime ministers, 2. he rises at international conferences to talk sugary cant about immigration while plotting with Fico to keep immigrants out, 3. he courted Maltese Muslims assiduously for their votes in the 2013 general election, but tells Slovak’s prime minister that we can’t have them around because they’re changing the face of the country, and 4. he shouts on home territory that Lawrence Gonzi was a dictator because he was in (freely elected) office for three successive terms, but has no similar issues with Robert Fico of Slovakia.