Fico has repeatedly spoken out against GLOBSEC and other NGOs, promising that he will end the era of “NGO supremacy” and reroute their financing to other organizations. He also suggested he could introduce a law that would see labeling of NGOs as foreign agents if they are funded abroad. The government quit paying toward GLOBSEC shortly after coming to power.
“We have been expecting that the government would not support us,” Kunová said. “But we have a diversified system of financing, so what the government gave us was about 10 percent. That means we can independently decide on where we will hold our conference.”
Another reason for moving the conference to Prague is an ambition to expand across Central Europe.
The conference has been organized in Bratislava since 2005, when the think tank was founded, and has grown to attract a number of world leaders, including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and French President Emmanuel Macron.