Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico’s Smer-SD Party has been formally expelled from the Party of European Socialists (PES) in the European Parliament.
The move marks the end of a turbulent two-year suspension that began amid accusations of pro-Russian leanings and alliances with the Right.
The decision severs ties with the bloc’s progressive family, leaving Smer’s three MEPs in the wilderness as non-attached members in the EP.
A spokesperson confirmed to Brussels Signal that Smer has been officially expelled. This was ratified in the PES’ ongoing congress today.
Smer was banned after consultation with the delegates at the congress because the Slovakian party is contradicting the core values of the PES, the spokesperson said.
"No state, no leader, is above international law."
When international law is breached, it must be named, condemned and confronted. We cannot stay silent; international law must be our guide.
Stefan Löfven adressing the #PESCongress25 pic.twitter.com/YHqOdwD0dE— PES 🌹🇪🇺 (@PES_PSE) October 17, 2025
Fico, the populist PM whose fourth term has strained European Union relations, dismissed the move as irrelevant, vowing his party would chart its own sovereign course on issues from Ukraine to migration.
In May, Fico was the sole leader from an EU member state to travel to Moscow to attend commemorations marking 80 years since the defeat of Nazi Germany.
At today’s congress in Amsterdam, PES President Stefan Löfven, the former Swedish prime minister who had threatened ousting Smer as early as 2023, said ahead of the event’s start that he would submit the expulsion for ratification in the Dutch capital.
Smer, founded in 1999 as a breakaway from Slovakia’s post-Communist Left, had long been a member of PES until its election victory in 2023.
The party won 23 per cent of the vote and formed a coalition with Peter Pellegrini’s Hlas-SD and the right-wing Slovak National Party (SNS), prompting an immediate suspension from the PES along with Hlas.
The Socialists and Democrats (S&D) group in the EP also suspended Smer MEPs Monika Beňová, Ľuboš Blaha and Miroslav Číž.
By July 2024, Fico had said he was not interested in rejoining, telling supporters that his party opposed the group’s stance on arming Kyiv and other issues.
Blaha said on Facebook: “We have just been expelled from the Party of European Socialists. Let’s celebrate 🤣 I greet you with a revolutionary toast, friends – SALUT ”
Fico posted on social media: “If the reason for ending SMER – Slovak Social Democracy’s membership in the Party of European Socialists is my participation in the celebrations of the victory over fascism and the constitutional definition of man and woman, then I am proud of this expulsion!”
Slovakia’s parliament has approved an amendment to enshrine “traditional” values on gender and sexuality in the country’s Constitution. https://t.co/V5GvPWO3ui
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) September 29, 2025
Fico’s rhetoric, branding NATO aid to Kyiv as “prolonging slaughter” and echoing Moscow’s narratives on Donbas, has long irked PES members.
Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič, a Smer affiliate, now faces awkward questions in Brussels about his party’s pariah status.
Smer eyes alliances with non-aligned groups but rules out right-wing blocs like Patriots for Europe.
Fico, though, has been co-operating with Hungarian PM Victor Orbán on several occasions.
