Robert Fico

Oct. 13 (UPI) — Scores of injuries were reported Monday after a train collision in Slovakia in central Europe.

Between 60 to 80 passengers were injured when a train en route from Kosice to Bratislava collide with a stationary freight train during morning rush hour on one of Slovakia’s primary transpiration corridors.

“A thorough investigation must clarify the causes of this tragedy,” Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico said as he called for a full investigation.

It occurred at about 8 a.m. local time just outside the nation’s capital in Ljubljana.

Around 10 people sustained serious injuries, according to officials. Rescue crews and paramedics were on site within minutes.

Officials added injuries were primarily a result of force impact related to the subsequent derailment, but others were sedated due to shock.

Reports suggested the passenger train, traveling at a moderate speed, failed to receive a warning signal prior to the crash.

Afterward, one of the trains was seen suspended over a ravine as rescuers worked the scene.

The incident points a spotlight on Slovakia’s rail safety standards.

On Monday, Slovakian Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok said a preliminary look indicated that a breach of protocol resulted in the disaster.

Nine people died in 2009 when a train and tourist bus collided in central Slovakia.

According to Estok, one of the trains did not give way to the other and further pointed to human error.

Oct. 4 (UPI) — Billionaire Andrej Babis is poised to return to power as prime minister in the Czech Republic in a four-year comeback that mirrors U.S. President Donald Trump.

Known as “Czech Trump,” Babis earned a decisive victory Saturday in a parliamentary election after being voted out of office. Elections took place on Friday and Saturday.

Babis’ populist ANO party, which means yes in Czech, took 36% of the vote, which is the party’s best-ever result, according to Czech Statistics Office with about 95% of precincts counted.

Prime Minister Petr Fiala conceded defeat as head of the Spolu (Together) Party with 23% followed by the STAN liberal, centrist party. There was a turnout of 68.9% in a nation of 10 million residents.

“I’m surprised they received so many votes,” Babi said in Prague. “I didn’t believe it at first. I hoped we would reach 30%, as our poll suggested 26.”

No major Czech party will outright majority in the 200-seat lower house of Parliament. Only parties that win at least 5% of the votes can enter parliament.

Czech President Petr Pavel, who largely is in a ceremonial role, has said will begin forming a coalition on Sunday. Babis wants support from the far-right Freedom and Direct Democracy coalition and the populist Motorists party.

The Freedom and Direct Democracy captured 7.9% and Motorists 6.78%.

There could be a “a nightmare scenario for international, European partners” should Babis invite the right-wing parties to join the government, Daniel Hegedüs, director for Central Europe at the German Marshall Fund in Berlin, told The New York Times.

“There could be a huge reluctance to continue support to Ukraine, and to play the same constructive role in the European Union and NATO” as the Czech Republic has before, he said.

The 71-year-old former premier backs policies similar to Trump to spur economic growth.

He wants to cut taxes, increase pensions, cap energy prices, freeze politicians’ salaries and end funding for public television.

Babis capitalized on voter frustration with the current government’s response to a cost-of-living crisis. He also would promote the country’s place in Europe by focusing on transactional politics over values espoused by the EU.

Last year, he co-founded the Patriots for Europe, a right-wing main opposition party in the EU with Hungary’s Fidesz party, France’s Rassemblement National and Austria’s Freedom Party, both far-right groups.

Babis is riding a wave of populist politicians, including Prime Ministers Viktor Orban of Hungary and Robert Fico of Slovakia.

But unlike Trump and those leaders, Babis has never aligned himself with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“Babiš is not an extremist but a dealmaker and populist who wants to have a catch-all party and he believes that he can offer something to everybody,” Petr Kolar, a former Czech ambassador to Russia, told the Financial Times before the vote.

“I don’t think Babiš will be against [more] sanctions” on Russia, adding “I believe that Babis is inspired by Orban, he admires him, but he doesn’t want to be perceived as a troublemaker in Brussels so much.”

Like those leaders, Babis has vowed to buck the EU on defense spending and immigration.

Babis became wealthy with an agribusiness with the fall of communism in Czechoslovakia in late 1989.

Czechoslovakia dissolved on Jan. 1, 1993, into Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Babis wants to resurrect the so-called Visegrad Four — the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia — as a regional force uniting 65 million citizens for a better say in the 27-member EU. Czech Republic joined the bloc in 2004.

Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland at one time were communist nations, like the Soviet Union, which included Russia.

“We will never drag the Czech Republic to the east, never leave the EU or NATO,” Babis said in his last televised pre-election appeal to voters.

Pavel, a former NATO general, faced off against Babis in a 2023 presidential election won by Pavel.

July 18 (UPI) — The European Union on Friday reached an agreement to impose its 18th round of sanctions against Russia over its war in Ukraine after Slovakia ended its protest.

The package targets Russia’s so-called shadow fleet of ships as well as the energy and banking sectors. It also lowers the oil cap from $60 to $45 a barrel and prohibiting the EU from accessing Russian Nord Stream pipelines.

The EU is also, for the first time, sanctioning a flag registry and Russian oil company Rosneft’s largest refinery in India.

“We are standing firm,” the EU’s top diplomat, High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas, said in a statement.

“We will keep raising the costs, so stopping the aggression becomes the only path forward for Moscow.”

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen celebrated its adoption online, saying with the new package, “We are striking at the heart of Russia’s war machine.”

“The pressure is on,” she said. “It will stay on until Putin ends this war.”

The EU has been hitting Russia with sanctions since it illegally annexed Crimea in 2014, but they have significantly ramped up since its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. It has since blacklisted more than 2,400 people and entities with its 17 adopted packages, along with other punitive measures.

The 18th package was blocked for days by Slovakia, which was protesting a separate EU proposal to phase out all Russian fuel supplies by 2028. Slovakian President Robert Fico had requested an exemption to allow it to fulfill its contract with Russia’s Gazprom until it expires in 2034.

But he relinquished his request late Thursday in a video published to Facebook.

All 27 members of the bloc need to vote unanimously for the sanctions to be adopted.

“We welcome the European Union’s latest sanctions package and are grateful to all who have made it possible,” Yulia Svyrydenko, Ukraine’s new prime minister, said in a statement.

“By targeting the ships, the banks and the networks that sustain Russia’s war, this package strengthens the pressures where it counts. There is more to be done. But each measure taken with clarity and resolve helps bring Russia’ war closer to its end.”

Nearly 22,000 entities and individuals have been hit with sanctions over Russia’s war in Ukraine, according to sanctions analysis platform Castellum, making it by far the most sanctioned country in the world.

The EU has imposed the fourth-most sanctions against Russia, following the United States, Canada and Switzerland.