Czech President Petr Pavel expects Prime Minister Andrej Babis (ANO) not to nominate the honorary president of the Motorists, Filip Turek, for the post of Environment Minister, the Presidential Office said in a press release yesterday.
Pavel’s office said the Prime Minister is obliged to protect the values of the constitution. If Babis fails to meet this expectation, the statement implied that the President would not appoint Turek, though the president would consider this to be an extraordinary step.
Even after Turek’s explanations of his problematic statements and actions presented during a meeting at Prague Castle yesterday morning, Pavel remained unconvinced, and the President’s reservations about Turek’s nomination as a minister remain.
Turek has faced criticism for racist and homophobic posts on social media. He has apologised for the remarks, but denies authorship of some of them. Controversy has also been drawn by his property declarations, and reports that he threatened a Saudi embassy employee eight years ago.
Turek said yesterday after a meeting with Pavel that the Motorists have no other candidate for the Environment Ministry. He said that in some cases he believed he had managed to explain matters to the President, but that there were some things that Pavel could not accept.
“The intensity and extent of Filip Turek’s problematic statements and actions repeatedly raise doubts about his loyalty to the value system defined by the Constitution of the Czech Republic,” wrote the Presidential Office. “What is decisive is not whether individual statements and actions challenging constitutional values have been proven to him, but whether a significant part of the public views them in this way.”
According to the President, by his public appearances, statements and behaviour, Turek has created the belief among a significant part of the public that he is downplaying Nazi Germany. “In doing so, he is calling into question respect for the constitutionally defined immutable values of equality and human dignity, as well as for the democratic order itself. He further expresses his disrespect for the values of the rule of law by his behaviour,” he added.
Pavel is thus convinced that Turek cannot be a minister. He assumes that Babis will not nominate him as a member of the government. “The Prime Minister is obliged to protect constitutional values,” Pavel’s office added. “Should he fail to meet this expectation, it is the President’s duty to fulfill this role. The President considers this to be a quite extreme and extraordinary step, which the President can use in rare and serious cases.”
Ondrej Preuss, expert in constitutional law, told CTK that the primary responsibility for the composition of the government rests with the prime minister, but there are borderline cases where the president can step in. However, this should be an extreme exception to the rule, he added. Preuss said the possible appointment or non-appointment of Turek as minister is a controversial case, and President Pavel’s argument could hold up, but it is a borderline situation.
Turek excused himself from the original meeting with Pavel for health reasons, and was also consequently left out of the proposed cabinet. Instead, at Babis’s suggestion, Pavel put Motorists leader Petr Macinka temporarily in charge of the Environment Ministry, as well as the Foreign Ministry.
Babis will now have meetings with Turek and Macinka, to discuss the matter further. The Motorists insist that Turek remains their candidate for the position, and that no other nominees are being considered.
Babis said would like the situation to be clarified by the time he meets Pavel on Wednesday, 7 January. The Motorists earlier indicated that they would like to resolve the situation by 13 January, when a vote of confidence in the new government will be held in the lower house.
Representatives of the opposition Civic Democrats (ODS) and Pirates have praised the President’s stance.
ODS deputy leader Martin Kupka said at a press conference yesterday that Turek’s “outrageous outbursts on social media” were a very significant reason not to appoint him as a member of the government. However, Kupka said the question remains in what respect this meets the constitution.
Ivan Bartos, former deputy prime minister and former leader of the Pirates, praised the president’s consistent stance. He said that people in Europe should not discuss with those who adore Nazism. “I am convinced that Filip Turek is completely inappropriate [as a ministerial candidate] not only because of his statements on social media, but also because of his aggressive behaviour,” said Bartos.
