The Prime Minister of Slovakia, Robert Fico was shot five times on Wednesday, in the most serious attack on a European leader in decades.
Officials said the act was a politically motivated assassination attempt, stoking fears that Europe’s increasingly polarized and vitriolic politics could tip into violence.
Mr. Fico, a veteran populist politician, underwent hours of emergency surgery after being critically wounded in a town in central Slovakia.
Hospital and government officials said Thursday that Mr. Fico’s condition had stabilized overnight but remained serious.
