Freedom and Solidarity Sloboda a Solidarita | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Abbreviation | SaS |
| Chair | Branislav Gröhling |
| Vice Chairs | |
| General Manager | Roman Foltin |
| Honorary Chair | Richard Sulík |
| Founder | Richard Sulík |
| Founded | 28 February 2009; 16 years ago (2009-02-28) |
| Headquarters | Priemyselná 8, 821 09Bratislava |
| Newspaper | SaS Daily |
| Youth wing | Mladí SaSkári |
| Membership(2022) |  250[1] |
| Ideology | Classical liberalism Conservative liberalism Civil libertarianism |
| Political position | Centre-right[A] |
| European affiliation | European Conservatives and Reformists Party |
| European Parliament group | ALDE Group (2014) ECR Group (2014–2024) |
| Colours |
|
| Slogan | Vote Strong Economy (2023)[2] |
| National Council | 11 / 150 |
| European Parliament | 0 / 15 |
| Regional governors[3] | 1 / 8 |
| Regional deputies[a][3] | 81 / 419 |
| Mayors[b][3] | 47 / 2,904 |
| Local councillors[c][3] | 619 / 20,462 |
| Website | |
| sas.sk | |
^ A: The party has been described ascentrist by some and asright-wing by others. | |
Freedom and Solidarity (Slovak:Sloboda a Solidarita,SaS),[4] also calledSaska,[5] is acentre-right political party inSlovakia.[6][7][8] Established in 2009,[9] SaS was founded by economistRichard Sulík, who designed Slovakia'sflat tax system.[10] It generally holds anti-state andneoliberal positions.[11] After the2020 Slovak parliamentary election, the party lost several seats in theNational Council but became part of thecoalition government (Matovič's Cabinet) withOrdinary People and Independent Personalities,For the People, andWe Are Family.[12] It is led by businessmanBranislav Gröhling.
SaS is asoft Eurosceptic party, and demands reforms of theEuropean Union (EU) but declares that membership in the EU is key for the future of Slovakia. However sinceBranislav Gröhling's takeover the party has become morepro-European. The party holdscivil libertarian positions including support fordrug liberalisation,same-sex marriage,[13] andLGBT rights,[14] and advocateseconomically liberal policies rooted in the ideas of theAustrian School.[15] The party launched a campaign calledReferendum 2009 to hold a referendum on reforming and cutting the cost of politics. SaS makes heavy use of the Internet,[16] such during the2010 Slovak parliamentary election throughFacebook andTwitter,[17] with the party having 68,000 fans on Facebook by the election.[18]
SaS narrowly failed to cross the 5% threshold at the2009 European Parliament election in Slovakia but came third, winning 22 seats, at the 2010 Slovak parliamentary election.[19] It became part of the four-partycentre-right coalition government, holding four cabinet positions, with Sulík elected theSpeaker of the National Council. In the2012 Slovak parliamentary election, the party suffered a major setback and lost half its 22 seats, and held four positions in thegovernment of Slovakia before the election. In the2019 European Parliament election in Slovakia, the party returned twoMembers of the European Parliament (MEPs). The party is member of theEuropean Conservatives and Reformists Party (ECR party). Sulík left theAlliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe group (ALDE group) in the European Parliament to sit with theEuropean Conservatives and Reformists (ECR group) on 2 October 2014.[20][21]
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Richard Sulík was special adviser toIvan Mikloš andJán Počiatek, the country's twoMinisters of Finance, with whom he worked to simplify the tax system and implement Slovakia's 19%flat tax. He announced his intention to found Freedom and Solidarity on 10 October 2008, calling for a party dedicated toeconomic freedom and questioning the commitment of theSlovak Democratic and Christian Union – Democratic Party (SDKÚ–DS) to that objective.[22] Analysts cited a lack of anyliberal party in the country.[22] After securing the 10,000 signatures required to found a party, SaS made its public debut in February 2009,[23] ahead of the2009 European Parliament election on 6 June. The party set publicly declared goals of entering theNational Council of Slovakia in 2010 and entering government in 2014.[23]
At SaS's founding congress in Bratislava on 28 February 2009, Sulík was elected as Chairman and Jana Kiššová as General Manager. SaS selected economist Ján Oravec, to be its candidate for the 2009 European Parliament election in Slovakia.[24] The party supported the SDKÚ–DS candidateIveta Radičová in the2009 Slovak presidential election in March and April; she was defeated in the second round.[citation needed] With others, Sulík was approached byDeclan Ganley to join theLibertas.eu alliance ofEurosceptic parties for the European elections but turned down the invitation in order to remain independent. While he was also a sceptic of theLisbon Treaty and more generally a critic of European intransparency and bureaucracy, he did not share the isolationist position of Libertas. In the 2009 European Parliament election, SaS received 4.7% of the votes, just missing the 5%election threshold; SDKÚ–DS accused SaS of unnecessarily furthering the fragmentation of the political right in Slovakia. In the2009 Slovak regional elections, SaS won one seat inBratislava.[citation needed]
In late 2009, SaS promoted a referendum striving for major cuts to politicians' privileges. The demands included downsizing the Slovak parliament from 150 to 100 MPs, scrapping their immunity from criminal prosecution and limits to be placed on the public finances spent on government officials' cars. Furthermore, they demanded that the radio and television market should be further liberalized, abolishing concessionary fees, and public officials' right to comment and reply to media coverage should be removed from the press law.[25] In January 2010, SaS announced that by the end of 2009 it had managed to collect the 350,000 signatures needed in order to call a referendum. SaS forwarded the signatures to the Slovak presidentIvan Gašparovič, requesting him to schedule the referendum for the date of the parliamentary election on 12 June 2010.[26]
In March 2010, people reported Sulík to the police for the content of the manifesto for the2010 Slovak parliamentary election, arguing that the party's manifesto commitment to legalisation ofcannabis constituted the criminal offence of "spread of addiction".[27] This was thrown out by the prosecutors, who refused to press charges.[28] The party's candidates were the most open about the state of their personal wealth.[29] In the election to the National Council, SaS received 12.1%, coming third, and won 22 seats. The party was the only one in opposition that took votes fromDirection – Social Democracy (Smer–SD),[18] although it was estimated that more of its votes came from former SDKÚ–DS voters.[30]
The party entered into coalition negotiations with three centre-right parties, namely theSlovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ–DS),Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) andMost–Híd. The parties agreed a common programme and allocated ministries, with SaS controlling four ministries as well as choosing theSpeaker of the National Council. During the negotiations,Igor Matovič, one of the four MPs elected on the SaS list from theOrdinary People faction, alleged that he had been offered a bribe to destabilise the talks, prompting Sulík to make a formal complaint to theprosecutor.[31] On 29 June 2010, the President decided that the 2009 referendum petition met the requirements and the vote would go ahead on 18 September 2010.[32] Four of the six issues in the referendum were part of the agreed programme of the new coalition government.[33] In the2010 Slovak political reform referendum, the turnout fell far below the 50% required.[citation needed]
In February 2011, Igor Matovič was ejected from the caucus for voting for Smer–SD's proposed restrictions ondual nationality.[34] Ordinary People filed to become an independent political party on 28 October 2011 and run as a separate list, along with two small conservative parties. In the2012 Slovak parliamentary election, SaS received 5.9% of the vote, placing it the sixth-largest party in the National Council with 11 deputies.[citation needed] In the2014 European Parliament election in Slovakia, SaS came in sixth place nationally, receiving 6.7% of the vote and had one member elected as aMember of the European Parliament.[35] In the2016 Slovak parliamentary election, the party received 12.1% of the vote, coming in as the second-largest party in the National Council with 21 deputies, exceeding expectations and making it the most successful election in SaS history.[citation needed]
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Following the2014 European Parliament election, Sulík questioned the involvement of SaS within theAlliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe group (ALDE group), with speculation that the party could instead switch groups to join theEuropean Conservatives and Reformists (ECR group).[36] While Sulík joined the ALDE group asMember of European Parliament for the start of the8th European Parliament, he later defected to the ECR group on 2 October 2014.[20][21]
On thepolitical spectrum, SaS is considered to becentrist,[37][38]centre-right,[39][40] andright-wing.[41][42][43] The party has been described aslibertarian,[43][44][45][46]liberal,[41][47][48]classical liberal,[49]conservative liberal,[50][51] andlibertarian right.[52] The party supportscultural liberalism andeconomic liberalism in its policies.[19][45][53] Economically rooted inneoliberalism,[54]laissez-faire,[37] and theAustrian School,[15] the party believes ineconomic liberalisation,[55] as well asfiscal conservatism,[47] being led by the father of Slovakia'sflat tax, and SaS prides itself on economic expertise;[56] Sulík himself has also been describednational liberal.[57] In the 2010 parliamentary election, the party emphasised that it had economic policies completely opposed to those ofFico's First Cabinet and ruled out cooperating with him.[55] The party cites a need to close thebudget deficit, and advocates reforming thesocial insurance system.[55] Sulík's proposal for a welfare and tax system reform, theContribution Bonus, is based on a combination of flat tax,basic income, andnegative income tax; it aims to streamline the system and cut unnecessary expenses and bureaucratic overhead.[58] SaS is notablycivil libertarian, being the only major party to campaign forsame-sex marriage or for thedecriminalisation of cannabis,[55] which put it at odds with itssocially conservative past coalition partner, theChristian Democratic Movement (KDH).[55] SaS is also notable for being the only party to be opposed tominimum wage increase, advocating instead for its abolition.[59]
In regards toEuropean Union (EU) politics, SaS is considered to beEurosceptic,[60][61][62] orsoft Eurosceptic,[45][63][64] something to which the party has shifted the focus from its economic liberal, cultural liberal campaign with stronganti-corruption rhetoric, when Sulík opposed involvement in theGreek government-debt crisis and an EU bailout.[53] The party characterizes itself as Eurorealist and opposes the bureaucratic machinery of the EU as presently organized.[65][66] SaS opposed theTreaty of Lisbon, the EU economicharmonisation, and an increasedEU budget;[56] it is particularly wary of the EU restricting thefree market.[55] SaS opposed theEuropean Central Bank's bailout of Greece during theeuro area crisis,[67] while Sulík has proposed drawing up plans to withdraw Slovakia from theEurozone, in case of extraordinary circumstances in the monetary union.[68] Sulík has also been a loud critic of themandatory refugee relocation EU programme,[69] as well as furtherEuropean integration at the expense of nation-states.[70] The party supports a liberal position on drug laws and same-sex marriage.[71] It rejects any tough measures to combatclimate change.[71]
In theEuropean Parliament, SaS is a member of theEuropean Conservatives and Reformists (ECR group), which does not completely reject the idea of common Europe; party members consider the EU to be a good project, which requires reforms. As a response toBrexit, the party prepared a manifesto with several proposals to reform the European Union.[72]
| Election | Leader | Votes | % | Rank | Seats | +/– | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Richard Sulík | 307,287 | 12.2 | 3rd | 22 / 150 | SDKÚ–DS–SaS–KDH–Bridge | |
| 2012 | 150,266 | 5.9 | 6th | 11 / 150 |  11 | Opposition | |
| 2016 | 315,558 | 12.1 | 2nd | 21 / 150 | 10 | Opposition | |
| Including oneCivic Conservative Party member elected within the party list. | |||||||
| 2020 | Richard Sulík | 179,246 | 6.2 | 6th | 13 / 150 | 8 | OĽaNO–We Are Family–SaS–For the People (2020–2022) |
| Opposition(2022–2023) | |||||||
| Including twoCivic Conservative Party members elected within the party list. | |||||||
| 2023 | Richard Sulík | 187,911 | 6.3 | 6th | 11 / 150 | 2 | Opposition |
| Election | List leader | Votes | % | Rank | Seats | +/– | EP Group |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Ján Oravec | 39,016 | 4.7 | 7th | 0 / 13 | ||
| 2014 | 37,376 | 6.7 | 6th | 1 / 13 | 1 | ALDE (2014) | |
| ECR (2014–2019) | |||||||
| 2019 | Eugen Jurzyca | 94,839 | 9.6 | 5th | 2 / 14 | 1 | ECR |
| 2024 | Richard Sulík | 72,703 | 4.9 | 6th | 0 / 15 | 2 | – |
| Election | Candidate | First round | Second round | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Rank | Votes | % | Rank | ||
| 2009 | Endorsed Iveta Radičová | 713,735 | 38.1 | 2nd | 988,808 | 44.5 | 2nd |
| 2014 | Endorsed Radoslav Procházka | 403,548 | 21.3 | 3rd | not qualified | ||
| 2019 | Endorsed Zuzana Čaputová | 870,415 | 40.6 | 1st | 1,056,582 | 58.4 | 1st |
| 2024 | Endorsed Ivan Korčok | 958,393 | 42.5 | 1st | 1,243,709 | 46.9 | 2nd |
| Leader | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Richard Sulík | 2009–2024 |
| 2 | Branislav Gröhling | 2024–present |
| Leader | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Richard Sulík | 2024–present |
After the2023 Slovak parliamentary election, SaS had 11 members in theNational Council, including:
Freedom and Solidarity (Slovak: Sloboda a Solidarita, SaS): Limited government, EU-sceptic, Euro-critical, classical-Liberal/Libertarian
Sloboda a Solidarita (Freedom and Solidarity, Ideology : centre-right classical liberal political party, founded in 2009).
On the one hand, AEPs which anchored themselves more in the party system (e.g. centrist SaS in Slovakia) ...
Korcok is a nominee of the right-wing Freedom and Solidarity Party (SaS) ...
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