Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico announced that he had returned to work on Tuesday, nearly two months after he was the victim of an assassination attempt by a lone gunman on May 15.
Mr Fico, 59, was hit by four bullets fired at close range after a remote government meeting in central Slovakia and underwent two lengthy surgeries at a nearby hospital.
Following the attack, the alleged gunman, identified by Slovak media as 71-year-old poet Juraj Cintula, was charged with terrorist attack and remanded in custody.
Mr Fico was released from hospital on May 31 and made his first public appearance at a ceremony near Bratislava last Friday.
According to Slovak media, Mr Fico travelled to Tuesday’s cabinet meeting through a tunnel to avoid journalists.
“Dear progressive and liberal media and dear opposition, I apologize for having survived but I am back,” Mr. Fico said on Facebook, posting a photo of himself taken in his office.
Due to his injuries, Mr. Fico walks with a crutch. He has also visibly lost weight.
Mr Fico leads a three-party coalition comprising his centrist Smer-SD party, the centrist Hlas party and the far-right SNS party, which governs the country of 5.4 million people, a member of the EU and NATO.
After taking office last fall, Mr. Fico’s government cut off military aid to Ukraine.
The prime minister himself has advocated peace talks with Russia, as has his Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orban.
In a speech, he praised Orban’s controversial trip to Moscow, saying he “would have liked to join him” if he had been healthy enough.
The coalition led by Mr Fico has drawn strong criticism after passing laws seen as endangering press freedom and judicial independence.
Mr. Fico also called for building a wall to stop “progressive and liberal ideologies,” comparing them to a cancer.