Czech President Petr Pavel announced this morning that he will file a competence lawsuit against the government, following yesterday’s decision by Prime Minister Andrej Babis (ANO) to exclude the president from the Czech delegation to the NATO summit in Ankara in July. Pavel is asking the Constitutional Court to clarify who has the authority to decide on the president’s participation in the summit, or to order the government not to create administrative or other obstacles for him to exercise his constitutional powers.
In a statement on the Presidential Office website today, Pavel said the cabinet’s decision to exclude the president from the delegation is an unprecedented and extremely unfortunate move, as well as a restriction on the constitutional powers of the head of state.
“It is my duty not only to exercise the president’s powers to the fullest extent, but also to defend them. Not for my own sake, but for the sake of all the presidents who will come after me,” said Pavel. “If I did not defend these powers, I would bear some responsibility for the fact that the door to further arbitrary erosion of the powers of constitutional officials would be thrown wide open.”
The president had been in a dispute with the government over his part in the delegation for several months. He has attended every NATO summit since taking office and previously served as chair of the NATO Military Committee. On Monday, the government approved Prime Minister Andrej Babis (ANO) to lead the delegation, which will also include Defence Minister Jaromir Zuna (SPD) and Foreign Minister Petr Macinka (Motorists).
In the dispute over participation in this year’s summit, Pavel has repeatedly argued that representing the state abroad is his constitutional authority. “It is essentially a description of this job,” Pavel said today. “Excluding the president from exercising this power therefore means limiting the role granted by the Constitution, not by a government resolution.” He also said he would respect the Constitutional Court’s decision, whatever it may be, and is glad that the period of disputes is over.
“This dispute is really not about a single seat at a single foreign meeting,” wrote Pavel. “It is about the government’s deliberate decision to exclude the president, the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and a former high-ranking NATO official, from the alliance’s summit at a time when he could apply his lifetime of expertise to benefit the security of the Czech Republic and its citizens.”
He noted that, as head of state, he had participated in three NATO summits and stated that, just as in all other official bilateral meetings, he had always adhered to the mandate approved by the government.
In response, Babis said he respected Pavel’s decision to file the competence lawsuit, but said it was not appropriate for senior elected officials to file lawsuits against each other, noting that he had not filed a constitutional complaint when the president refused to appoint controversial Motorist MP Filip Turek as a minister.
He wrote on social media that the government had made a pragmatic and practical decision based on an assessment of how the summit will be held. Regarding the president’s suggestion that he might attend only one part of the summit, Babis noted that it was standard practice for just one leader to attend both the informal dinner and the subsequent official meeting.
“It is simply not true that an informal dinner is purely a ceremonial affair,” he said. “On the contrary, much more is often negotiated there. I think the informal dinner serves the purpose of allowing us to discuss other EU matters with the leaders. That is why the delegation should be at the government level, and it would not make sense for us to be part of the same delegation.”
Babis reiterated yesterday that he intends to defend the Czech Republic’s position on fulfilling its NATO commitments at the summit. The country failed to meet those commitments last year, and will not spend 2% of GDP on defence this year either.
He said the president had assumed the role of leader in foreign policy under the previous government. However, he said, the current cabinet has sufficient authority and wants to actively lead foreign policy, which is why the government does not want the president to be part of the delegation.
Opposition politicians expressed support for Pavel’s position and described the lawsuit as the right move.
Pirate Party leader Zdenek Hrib wrote on social media that the entire Czech Republic would suffer as a result of the cabinet’s decision, and that there was still time for Babis to reconsider the decision.
“It would have been normal to resolve this dispute at least a month ago,” said Jan Grolich, leader of KDU-CSL. “The government and the prime minister are responsible for all this embarrassment and for the fact that it’s being resolved in court at the last minute before the NATO summit. I’m surprised they’re allowing this to happen at a time when the security situation in Europe is changing.”
According to opposition MP Marek Zenisek (TOP 09), Babis had a chance to show that the leaders of his junior coalition partners, SPD and Motorists, do not control his decisions. He described Babis as “a weakling”, and his decision as “a disgrace”.
