Slovakia’s government faces confidence vote as debt exceeds constitutional limit

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BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) — The Slovak government is set to face a parliamentary confidence vote Thursday that was triggered by the country’s debt surpassing fiscal limits set by the Constitution.

The motion was called after the Constitutional Court, the country’s highest authority, ruled Wednesday that the government has to ask for such a vote without delay.

Populist Prime Minister Robert Fico said he respected the court's ruling and called for the vote.

His coalition government has a majority of 78 seats in the 150-seat parliament, known as the National Council, and is therefore expected to win the vote. Coalition lawmakers limited the time for the debate to 12 1/2 hours.

Fico said the government was originally planning to link such a vote to another vote on the next year’s state budget to be held later his year.

The opposition filed a complaint with the court in November after the European Union statistics body, Eurostat, said Slovak debt reached 59.7% of gross national product the previous month. It has moved to 61.4% since, according the Slovak Statistics Office.

It is still below the average among the European Union countries.

Slovakia, like many other European countries, increased state spending to counteract the economic shocks of the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s war against Ukraine, which caused energy prices to spike.

The Slovak Supreme Audit office said on Tuesday that the Slovak economy grew only 0.8% in 2025, the slowest rate in the last three years, while the government spending was growing faster, contributing to the rising debt.

The threshold to trigger the vote is 50% in Slovakia.

Fico has been a divisive figure since returning to power in 2023. His pro-Russian stance and other policies have prompted numerous protests.