The Party of European Socialists has voted to permanently kick out Slovakia’s Smer party, led by Prime Minister Robert Fico, according to four officials with knowledge of the decision.
The Socialist party’s leadership took the unanimous decision in a meeting last Thursday, according to the officials, who were granted anonymity to speak freely about internal deliberations. The decision will have to be ratified at a meeting in Amsterdam between Oct. 16 and 18.
The decision comes after Fico shook Vladimir Putin’s hand in Moscow in May ahead of Russia’s annual Victory Day celebrations. Fico visited Beijing in the first week of September, where he met with China’s Xi Jinping and Belarus’ Alexander Lukashenko.