EU Risks Losing Another Eastern Member to Populist Forces

  • Slovakia moves closer to snap vote after government collapse
  • Polls show leaders who buck EU mainstream are in the lead

Eduard Heger

Photographer: Dursun Aydemir/Bloomberg
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The European Union faces a potential blow to its fragile unity after Slovakia’s government collapsed, plunging the nation into political turmoil and raising the prospect of a snap vote.

As the EU member state of 5.4 million lurches toward an early election, opinion polls show political forces in the lead who have shown skepticism for backing Ukraine — including one former premier who has openly opposed sanctions against Russia and linked himself with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his democratic backsliding.