Slovak former prime minister Robert Fico and his party have signed a coalition deal to form a new government expected to go slow on cutting high deficits and reduce support to neighbor Ukraine.

Fico, a three-time prime minister last in power in 2018, won an election on September 30 with pledges to halt military aid to Ukraine, while taking a hard line on rising illegal migration and a surge in prices.

He has backed peace talks for Ukraine as it battles Russia's invasion - a line similar to that of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban but rejected by Kyiv and its Western allies, who say this would only encourage Russian aggression.

Fico's leftist, populist SMER-SSD (Direction-Slovak Social Democracy) struck a deal last week with the center-left HLAS (Voice) and nationalist Slovak National Party (SNS) to form a coalition that will have 79 out of 150 seats in parliament.

The pact, which can allow the president to appoint the new government, agreed the breakdown of cabinet positions, giving SMER the defense, finance, foreign and justice ministries.

HLAS, whose presence could blunt any hard policy shifts in the proposed government, will get parliament's speaker role.

President Zuzana Caputova, who gave Fico a mandate to secure a parliamentary majority for a government after the election, said she would take further steps after receiving the names of proposed ministers, which the parties must still agree.

Slovakia, a European Union and NATO member, is on course for the highest deficit in the euro zone this year as a result of slower economic growth, higher spending needs and rising costs, with the shortfall seen at more than twice the bloc's ceiling of 3 percent of gross domestic product.

Fico said he wanted to prevent budget tightening from hurting social standards and to allow space for investments, signalling slower pace of fiscal consolidation than what the outgoing caretaker government has recommended.

Fico has a tense relationship with Caputova, whom he has called a U.S. puppet acting as U.S. financier and philanthropist George Soros' proxy. Caputova has sued Fico for spreading lies about her.

The new government deal dashed liberal opposition's hopes to win over HLAS - whose third-place finish in the election left it as kingmaker - as an ally.

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