Slovak NGO Head Calls for Economic Debate on Migration, Criticizes Fear-Based Politics

The head of a Slovak refugee integration organization says the country's political discourse on migration relies on fear rather than facts, and that economic arguments in favor of accepting refugees are being ignored. Michaela Pobudová, who leads Mareena, a civic association focused on refugee integration in Slovakia, argues that every government finds refugees a convenient and cheap political topic to exploit. Despite widespread public anxiety about migration — fueled by political rhetoric — many Slovaks still actively help refugees in practice, she says. Pobudová is calling for a more grounded national conversation that takes into account the economic contributions refugees can make, rather than one driven by scaremongering. Migration has been a recurring political flashpoint in Slovakia, where the ruling coalition led by Prime Minister Robert Fico's Smer-SD party — a left-leaning nationalist movement — has consistently taken a hard line against refugee resettlement and used migration as a mobilizing issue with its voter base.