Top EU Official Sefcovic Joins Slovak Presidential Race
- Sefcovic pledges to maintain country’s pro-European stance
- His candidacy is supported by ousted premier Fico’s Smer party
Maros Sefcovic
Photographer: Emmanuel Dunand/AFP via Getty Images
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A Brussels-based eurocrat is joining Slovakia’s presidential race in a bid to ensure the country won’t veer from its pro-European Union course as the bloc struggles to confront challenges to its democratic principles.
Vice-Chairman of the European Commission Maros Sefcovic accepted an offer from the ruling Smer party to run on its ticket in the March 16 vote. He joins the contest as anti-Western sentiment fuels anti-establishment parties that have embraced ideas being pushed by nationalist governments in Poland and Hungary, which bracket Slovakia and are clashing with the EU over democratic backsliding.