Bratislava, 25 October 2023 (dpa/MIA) - Three and a half weeks after parliamentary elections, Slovakia's new government led by Robert Fico took office on Wednesday.

The step came after the parliament was constituted, with government and opposition lawmakers trading insults shortly afterwards.

President Zuzana Čaputová swore in the three-party government of two social democratic and one nationalist party in the afternoon.

Fico previously held the post of prime minister from 2006 to 2010 and 2012 to 2018.

His left-wing nationalist SMER-SSD party won the September 30 parliamentary elections, coming in ahead of the liberal Progressive Slovakia (PS) party and the Voice - Social Democracy (Hlas-SD) party led by Peter Pellegrini, who led the country for a brief period.

Pellegrini was courted by both Fico and the liberals as a potential coalition partner and ultimately decided to form a government with Fico.

That makes liberal PS Slovakia's largest opposition party.

Before the government was sworn in, Pellegrini was elected as the new speaker of parliament on Wednesday, with a large majority.

Ahead of Fico's appointment, concerns were expressed about the new government by Slovakia's conservative and liberal opposition along with European Union and NATO representatives.

During campaigning, Fico said he would put a halt to weapons supplies to Ukraine, saying Slovakia should continue to support the neighbouring country, but no longer with weapons, just with civilian goods.

Fico said he wanted to address the concerns of EU leaders at the EU summit in Brussels on Thursday.

Photo: archive