BRATISLAVA, Slovakia — Slovakia has passed a controversial constitutional amendment defining gender strictly as male or female, while also banning surrogate pregnancies and restricting adoption to heterosexual married couples.
The amendment, approved in a narrow parliamentary vote on Friday, was pushed through by Prime Minister Robert Fico’s populist-nationalist government, which framed it as a defense of “traditional values” and national sovereignty in cultural matters.
Fico, who leads the Smer-Social Democracy party, celebrated the move as a “great dam against progressivism.” He has repeatedly described liberal ideology as “spreading like cancer.”
The government secured the required 90 votes in the 150-seat National Council with the help of 12 opposition MPs, including members of the Christian Democrats and defectors from former Prime Minister Igor Matovic’s Slovakia movement. Matovic branded the defectors “traitors.”
Criticism from rights groups and EU concerns
Amnesty International and other rights organizations condemned the amendment, warning it will worsen discrimination against LGBTQ people and align Slovakia more closely with the restrictive policies of Hungary and Russia.
Slovak legal scholars also cautioned that enshrining the primacy of the constitution over European Union law could spark legal battles and even EU sanctions.
Beata Balagova, editor-in-chief of Slovak daily SME, argued the move was more about political distraction than social policy.
“The Slovak constitution has fallen victim to Robert Fico’s plan to divert attention from real problems, as well as the austerity measures he had to pass,” she told the BBC.
President Peter Pellegrini said he would sign the amendment, calling the cross-party majority “an important signal of agreement” in a divided society.
But the decision has intensified friction between Bratislava and Brussels. Fico’s Smer party, already suspended from the Party of European Socialists for allying with the far right, now faces possible expulsion at a conference next month.
Fico has further strained relations with European allies by meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin four times in the past year.
