Progressive Slovakia Progresívne Slovensko | |
|---|---|
.svg) | |
| Abbreviation | PS |
| Leader | Michal Šimečka |
| Deputy leaders | See list
|
| Founder | Ivan Štefunko Zuzana Čaputová Michal Šimečka |
| Founded | 27 November 2017; 8 years ago (2017-11-27) |
| Headquarters | Grösslingová 2478/4, 81109Bratislava |
| Think tank | Progressive Institute |
| Youth wing | Young Progressives |
| Membership(2024) |  698[1] |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Centre[A] |
| European affiliation | Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe |
| European Parliament group | Renew Europe |
| Colours | Capri |
| Slogan | We Create the Future Together (2023; Slovak: Spoločne tvoríme budúcnosť)[2] |
| National Council | 33 / 150 |
| European Parliament | 6 / 15 |
| Regional governors | 1 / 8 |
| Regional deputies[a][3] | 38 / 419 |
| Mayors[a][3] | 9 / 2,904 |
| Local councils[a][3] | 302 / 20,462 |
| Website | |
| progresivne.sk | |
^ A: The party has also been described ascentre-left,[4] andcentre-right.[5] | |
Progressive Slovakia (Slovak:Progresívne Slovensko,PS) is aliberal andsocial-liberal political party inSlovakia established in 2017. The party is led byMichal Šimečka, a formerVice President of the European Parliament. It is a member of theRenew Europe group and is a full member of theAlliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party. PS currently has 6 MEPs:Ľudovít Ódor (formerPrime Minister of Slovakia),Veronika Cifrová Ostrihoňová (a former journalist),Martin Hojsík,Michal Wiezik (both environmental activists),Ľubica Karvašová, andLucia Yar.
Zuzana Čaputová, the Formerpresident of Slovakia who is also the co-founder and former deputy leader of PS who won the2019 Slovak presidential election, was nominated by the party for the election, focusing her campaign on themes ofanti-corruption,environmentalism, andpro-Europeanism. In theNational Council, it was first represented by deputyTomáš Valášek elected forFor the People, which he left in 2021. In local politics, PS has a dominant position inBratislava, cooperating with Team Bratislava andFreedom and Solidarity.
The party was registered as Progressive Slovakia (PS) with theMinistry of Interior of the Slovak Republic on 27 November 2017, after the submission of 13,500 signatures.[6] The party's founding congress was held on 20 January 2018, which resulted inIvan Štefunko being elected as the party's chairman. Štefunko views theleft–right political spectrum as obsolete, instead aiming for the party to be a centrist and liberal political movement, claiming that "Slovakia is full of people who want a modern, open and European country".[7] Štefunko stepped down as the party's leader in 2019 following criticism of his past involvement in business and politics, although the official reasoning for his resignation was due to health issues.[8] Štefunko was replaced by former deputy leaderMichal Truban.[9] Truban is an IT professional, an entrepreneur, and an anti-corruption activist who also favors digitalization of governance and bureaucracy.[8]
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PS first gained attention in 2018 whenMatúš Vallo, its favored candidate, won the2018 municipal elections in Bratislava, and subsequently became the city's mayor.[8] After the2019 Slovak presidential election, the victory of its presidential candidate, 45-year-old lawyerZuzana Čaputová,[10] was hailed by international media commentators as a victory of liberalism over populism.[11] According to political scientist Michael Rossi, Čaputová's popularity is related to her appeal as an outsider amidst frustration over political corruption andclientelism among the electorate. Čaputová first gained fame as a campaigner against a toxic waste dump created by real estate brokers who were connected to the rulingSmer-SD, which led to many commentators describing her as the "SlovakErin Brockovich".[11] While campaigning for the presidency, Čaputová focused on the issues of corruption, inflation, justice, the environment, and overhaul of healthcare, and ran on the slogan "stand up to evil". She stayed silent on the issue of immigration and open borders, which most Slovaks were opposed to, and was the only major candidate not to condemn theGlobal Compact for Migration.[12][13]
PS got the highest share in the2019 European Parliament election in Slovakia, earning over 20.1% of the vote and becoming the largest party represented in the Slovak section of the European Parliament, with the Smer-SD's 15.7% and the neo-fascistKotleba – People's Party Our Slovakia's 12.1%.[14] For the2020 Slovak parliamentary election, PS signed a cooperation agreement and non-aggression pact with former presidentAndrej Kiska's extra-parliamentaryFor the People party and theChristian Democratic Movement.[15][16] In an upset on election day, the PS/SPOLU coalition narrowly missed on entering theNational Council after finishing with 6.96% of the vote,[17] as coalitions must reach a threshold of 7% in order to enter Parliament.[18]
Progressive Slovakia is generally described associal-liberal,[19] as well asliberal.[20][21][22] The party is sociallyprogressive,[22] holdingculturally liberal views,[23] and ispro-European.[21][24] PS iseconomically liberal,[25] and has been calledneoliberal.[26][27][28] PS also supportqueer rights, such assame-sex unions andsame-sex marriage. In its communication, the party uses gender-balanced language and presents gender-equal lists in all elections.[21][29] The party refuses to cooperate with the "extremist parties" and the left-conservativeDirection – Social Democracy.[30]
The party's position on thepolitical spectrum is nuanced and has been debated. Internationally, PS has been generally described ascentrist,[27][31][32]centre-right,[33][34] orcentre-left.[35][36] Slovak politologist Darina Malová positioned the party on theleft-wing of the political spectrum, labeling them a "modern left-wing" party; she distinguished them from the "old school" left-wing Slovak parties, such as Direction – Social Democracy.[37] Despite this, the party is generally associated with thecentre-right in Slovakia,[38] with the majority of its voters describing themselves asright-wing.[39][40]
Following the2023 parliamentary election, in which Progressive Slovakia became the main opposition, the party, underMichal Šimečka's leadership, is making a strategic shift towards a more centrist position. PS aims to broaden its appeal to rural voters and non-urban regions, moving away from its previous image as a "Bratislava party." This shift includes a focus on defending democratic values, institutions, and the rule of law, with Šimečka describing its current role as paradoxically taking on a "conservative role" to protect existing democratic structures while remaining open to compromise on specific programmatic issues. The inclusion of figures such asĽudovít Ódor andIvan Korčok in the leadership reflects a moretechnocratic andmoderate approach, emphasizing PS'spro-European stance and its attempt to expand its base in upcoming elections, including regional and local contests.[41][42][43]
In theEuropean Parliament, PS sits in theRenew Europe group with two MEPs.[44][45] The party joined theAlliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party in November 2018.[46] In theEuropean Committee of the Regions, PS sits in theRenew Europe CoR group with one full member for the 2025–2030 mandate.[47] Jozef Viskupič is a member of the Bureau of the Renew Europe CoR group.
| Election | Leader | Votes | % | Rank | Seats | +/– | Government |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Michal Truban | 200,780 | 6.97 | 5th | 0 / 150 |  0 | No seats |
| In coalition withTogether – Civic Democracy, which did not win any seat. | |||||||
| 2023 | Michal Šimečka | 533,136 | 18.0 | 2nd | 32 / 150 | 32 | Opposition |
| Election | List leader | Votes | % | Rank | Seats | +/– | EP Group |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Michal Šimečka | 198,255 | 20.1 | 1st | 2 / 14 | 2 | RE |
| In coalition withTogether – Civic Democracy, which won 4 seats in total. | |||||||
| 2024 | Ľudovít Ódor | 410,844 | 27.8 | 1st | 6 / 15 | 4 | RE |
| Election | Candidate | First round | Second round | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Rank | Votes | % | Rank | ||
| 2019 | 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 |
| Chairperson | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ivan Štefunko | 2018–2019 |
| 2 | Michal Truban | 2019–2020 |
| 3 | Irena Bihariová | 2020–2022 |
| 4 | Michal Šimečka | 2022–present |
New political parties emerged, one on the center-Left (Progressive Slovakia) and another on the center-Right (SPOLU-Civic Democracy), both backing Ms. Čaputová in her run for president.
The most successful newcomer in 2023 was the social liberal Progressive Slovakia (PS). […] The main-stream centre-right PS and SaS appeal to young, urban professionals, and are predictably the most Bratislava-dominated in terms of voters as well as MPs.
See infographic: A.3 National Parties and respective classification.
Recent presidential elections were seen as a crossroads: sticking with the old establishment in the form of SMER-supported EC Vice-President for Energy Union, Maroš Šefčovič, or a desire for change embodied in the political novice Zuzana Čaputová from the relatively new social liberal Progressive Slovakia (PS) party.
Die Anwältin Čaputová von der liberalen Partei „Fortschrittliche Slowakei" wäre im Falle eines Sieges die erste Frau im Präsidentenamt des Landes.
Ob ihre liberale, proeuropäische Partei 'Fortschrittliche Slowakei' an ihren Erfolg anknüpfen kann, oder doch wie in den Nachbarländern rechtspopulistische Kräfte triumphieren, wird sich bei der Parlamentswahl am 29. Februar zeigen.
The winner of the EP election, surprisingly, is a coalition of two new political parties: the liberal, progressive, pro-European Progressive Slovakia and the liberal conservative center-right TOGETHER - Civic Democracy (Spolu – Občianska demokracia).
And in Slovakia, a new left-leaning economic liberal party called Progressive Slovakia was founded last year based on the En Marche! model.
Out of 150 seats, SMER-SD obtained 42 (with 23% of the votes), the neoliberal Progressive Slovakia 32 (18%) and HLAS-SD 27 (14.7%) – while the rest was divided between OL'aNO, KOH, SaS and SNS.
Even within party ideology, Progressive Slovakia identifies closest with France's 'La République En Marche!' the party of Emmanuel Macron, which may be pro-European, but is avowedly neoliberal centrist.
Zuzana Čaputová, the candidate of the non-parliamentary neoliberal party 'Progressive Slovakia', has won the second round of presidential elections with 58% of votes.
MEP Martin Hojsík, from the centrist Progressive Slovakia-Renew Europe, said VDL's views on the climate and biodiversity were optimistic.
The most successful newcomer in 2023 was the social liberal Progressive Slovakia (PS). […] The main-stream centre-right PS and SaS appeal to young, urban professionals, and are predictably the most Bratislava-dominated in terms of voters as well as MPs.
See infographic: A.3 National Parties and respective classification.
New political parties emerged, one on the center-Left (Progressive Slovakia) and another on the center-Right (SPOLU-Civic Democracy), both backing Ms. Čaputová in her run for president.
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