Progressive Slovakia (, PS) is a liberal and social-liberal political party in Slovakia established in 2017. The party is led by Vice President of the European Parliament Michal Šimečka. It is a member of the Renew Europe group and is a full member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party. PS has three MEPs: Michal Šimečka (former journalist and researcher), Martin Hojsík, and Michal Wiezik (both environmental activists); Wiezik left the EPP group and Spolu to join PS. Zuzana Čaputová, incumbent President of Slovakia, co-founder and former deputy leader of Progressive Slovakia who won the 2019 Slovak presidential election, was nominated by the party for the election, focusing her campaign on themes of anti-corruption, environmentalism and Pro-Europeanism. In the National Council, it was first represented by deputy Tomáš Valášek elected for For the People, which he left in 2021. In local politics, PS has a dominant position in Bratislava, cooperating with Team Bratislava and Freedom and Solidarity.
History
The party was registered with the Slovak Interior Ministry on 27 November 2017, after the submission of 13,500 signatures. The party's founding congress was held on 20 January 2018, which resulted in being elected as the party's chairman. Štefunko views the left–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". However, 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. Štefunko was replaced by former deputy leader . Truban is an IT professional, an entrepreneur, and an anti-corruption activist, who also favors digitalization of governance and bureaucracy.
The party first gained attention in 2018 when its favored candidate, Matúš Vallo, won the 2018 municipal elections in Bratislava, and subsequently became the city's mayor. After the 2019 presidential election, the victory of Progressive Slovakia's presidential candidate, 45-year-old lawyer Zuzana Čaputová, was hailed by international media commentators as a victory of liberalism over right-wing populism. According to Professor Michael Rossi, Čaputová's popularity is related to her appeal as an outsider amidst frustration over political corruption and clientelism 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 ruling Smer-SD, which led to many commentators describing her as the "Slovak Erin Brockovich". 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 are opposed to, and was the only major candidate not to condemn the Global Compact on Migration.
The party also got the highest share in the 2019 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 Direction – Social Democracy's 15.7% and the neo-fascist Kotleba – People's Party Our Slovakia's 12.1%. For the 2020 parliamentary election, Progressive Slovakia signed a cooperation agreement and non-aggression pact with former president Andrej Kiska's extra-parliamentary For the People party and the Christian Democratic Movement. However on election day, in rather stunning fashion, the PS/Spolu coalition narrowly missed on entering the National Council after finishing with 6.96% of the vote, as coalitions must reach a threshold of 7% in order to enter parliament.
Ideology
Progressive Slovakia was described as social-liberal and liberal. The party is socially progressive, holding culturally liberal views and is pro-European. PS is economically liberal and occasionally called neo-liberal. PS also support LGBT rights such as same-sex unions and same-sex marriage.