Emigré who swapped communism for belief in free markets

A BOY émigré who escaped Soviet-backed Czechoslovakia at the age of 12 and returned a passionate free-marketeer, Richard Sulik has now made his homeland the odd one out in the club of European democracies.

As leader of the small Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party in Slovakia’s ruling coalition, Mr Sulik has leapt from obscurity to the international stage with a vow to stymie the country’s ratification of an expanded eurozone rescue fund.

His friends and critics alike say a healthy ego and disdain for borrowing means he has no hesitation clashing with the more consensual approach favoured by coalition partners.

Mr Sulik, 43, tends to view economic policy through the stark Cold War prism of communism versus the free market and is happy to fight in a tiny minority against bigger forces in Europe.

“He is a man who often thinks in Excel spreadsheets. The political impact of cleaning up the [economic] system is only secondary to him,” said Martin Poliacik, SaS co-founder.

Born in what is now Slovakia, Sulik fled through former Yugoslavia to West Germany with his family in 1980. He returned in 1991 after the fall of communism.

He created the SaS party ahead of elections last year, winning 12 per cent of the vote on a pledge to spare Slovak taxpayers from bailing out Greece.