It cannot be ruled out that channels of communication between the Presidential Office and the coalition government of ANO, Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) and the Motorists will be closed, given the current disputes, according to political analysts who spoke to CTK today.
Miroslav Mares, from Masaryk University in Brno, said that SPD and the Motorists may try to maintain their protest image among their voters by distancing themselves from President Petr Pavel, which Pavel may not be willing to help with. “It cannot be ruled out, because there will be no political interest in this communication on either side,” he said.
“Among supporters of the coalition parties, there are growing calls for restrictions on the financing of the Presidential Office,” Mares noted.
Josef Mlejnek, from Charles University in Prague, also said it was possible that communication between the government and the president will be restricted.
Relations between the president and the government hit a new low this afternoon, when Pavel accused Foreign Minister Petr Macinka (Motorists) of attempted blackmail. The president cited text messages sent to his advisor Petr Kolar by Macinka, threatening to “burn the bridges in a way that will enter the textbooks” if Pavel did not appoint Motorists’ honorary chairperson Filip Turek as environment minister.
Pavel said he will file a complaint with the security services and submit Macinka’s messages to lawyers for assessment to determine whether they meet the conditions for the crime of blackmail.
The text messages were subsequently published by the Presidential Office on social media. In the messages, Macinka states that the president can rest easy if Motorists honorary chairman Filip Turek is appointed as Environment Minister.
Macinka also wrote that he had the support of coalition leaders Tomio Okamura (SPD) and Prime Minister Andrej Babis (ANO). Pavel said he did not believe that Macinka had Babis’s support.
“No intimidation will work on me, I will continue to be guided primarily by the Constitution and the interests of the Czech Republic,” Pavel said.
The dispute between the Motorists and President Pavel over the nomination of the Motorists’ honorary chairman Filip Turek as environment minister has been dragging on for weeks. Pavel has rejected Turek as a minister; the Motorists still insist on their candidate, though they are unwilling to file a competence dispute lawsuit out of fears that the judges may side with the president.
Recently, the coalition government and the president have also disagreed on the possible supply of four L-159 aircraft to Ukraine, which is defending itself against a Russian invasion. While Pavel has said this would be possible without compromising the defence capabilities of the Czech Republic, the government refuses to provide the aircraft, referring to a statement by Defence Minister Jaromir Zuna (SPD).
On Monday, the government also revoked a resolution that would have sent new ambassadors to head Czech diplomatic missions. The nominations had been approved by the previous government of Petr Fiala (ODS). Foreign Minister Petr Macinka (Motorists) said the previous government approved the ambassadors in violation of the established practice of transferring power. Dozens of posts around the world would be filled by people sent with a different mandate, different priorities, and a different agenda than that of the current cabinet, he said. Pavel said last week that he was not opposed to discussing the newly approved ambassadors with the government, but he would consider the blanket rejection of all of them as an attempt to undo everything the previous cabinet did.
On Monday, the highest constitutional officials were also supposed to meet with President Pavel at the Prague Castle to discuss foreign and security policy. Pavel postponed the meeting from 3 pm to 4 pm due to an ongoing cabinet meeting, but then cancelled the meeting altogether. Prime Minister Andrej Babis (ANO) apologized at a briefing after the cabinet meeting, saying that he and Macinka had missed the meeting. An alternative date is being sought.
Chamber of Deputies Speaker Tomio Okamura (SPD) said on Monday morning that the draft joint declaration prepared by the Presidential Office ahead of the meeting was unacceptable to the entire government coalition. Senate Speaker Milos Vystrcil (ODS) responded that he had not received a draft declaration, only some basic proposals for comment, which the participants were supposed to discuss at the meeting. Babis later confirmed this.
Mlejnek told CTK on Monday that prolonging the cabinet meeting could have been intentional, but that it is difficult to assess the situation at this time. Asked whether the cancellation of the meeting could have been a symbolic response to the statements made by Okamura, he said: “I think that the President is primarily concerned with his relationship with the Prime Minister; Okamura is a secondary figure for him.”
“As far as I know, Okamura would have participated, and they were waiting for Babis and Macinka,” Mlejnek added today. “Okamura is the most aggressive, so it’s not a good idea to let him run wild.”
